


What Happened to Never Say Die?

by kiddle



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - 1980s, Alternate Universe - High School, American AU, Angst, Coming of Age, Friends to Lovers, Goonies AU, Historical, Humor, M/M, Mystery, Pining, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 09:24:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13924200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiddle/pseuds/kiddle
Summary: The 80s were one of the best decades to be a teenager in America. Just ask anyone who's seen a John Hughes movie. Louis would beg to differ. At least today he would, while he was stuck cleaning out his family's basement - part of his grounding after a senior prank gone wrong. But when he finds a box containing details of the biggest unsolved crime in Luna Hills, he and his friends decide to sneak out for one last adventure before they're all off to college. That is, as long as the mayor, who also happens to be Louis' mother, doesn't stop them before they discover the truth.Or, a coming of age American AU inspired by classic 80s movies like The Goonies and Stand By Me where everyone has a secret and no one wants to get caught.





	What Happened to Never Say Die?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super excited to share this story that I've been working on for so long! I haven't posted in a while, but that's just because this story turned into a bit of a monster to write. It's inspired by a genre I absolutely love so I'm really proud of how it turned out. Just a quick note, all of the characters outside of the main five are completely original and not meant to be based on anyone real, especially the family members mentioned. Besides that, thanks for checking the story out and I hope you enjoy this goofy little adventure! I'd love to hear what you guys think in the comments :)

This was absolutely ridiculous. Totally unfair. Not at all a worthy punishment for his petty crime, if you could even call it that.

It was the middle of June and Louis was stuck in the last place any eighteen year old would want to be on a sunny Saturday afternoon: the dark, hot, moldy, basement of his parents’ house in suburban Wisconsin. All because of the stupid stunt he pulled with his buddies last weekend. Stupid, stupid, clever, stunt.

See, graduating high school comes with a very important tradition, and that tradition is a senior prank. This year, he and about ten other fellow students decided to break into the principal’s office on a Sunday night to take all of his belongings out of it and hide them around the school. Innocent enough, but as it turned out, also worthy of three after-school detentions. And in Louis’ case, with after school detentions came a week of grounding from his parents. Wasn’t he lucky?

The thing was, Louis had a bit of an interesting family. For most of his life he was an only child, but a few weeks after his fifteenth birthday he found out he was going to be a big brother. Six months later his sister was born. Another two after that and his mom was elected mayor of Luna Hills. His dad quit his job once that happened so he could stay home with baby Claire.

Everything was great, except Louis couldn’t get away with anything anymore.

When your mom is the mayor of a town of seven thousand people, it’s pretty hard to keep your name out of other people’s mouths. If he was hanging out in public after curfew, someone knew. If he got drunk at a house party, someone knew. And if he was the ringleader of a prank against the principle of Luna Hills High School, everyone knew. Notoriety was a fun yet dangerous game.

So there Louis was, sitting in a pile of dust, old photo albums, and baby clothes not even Claire fit into anymore, hating his life. He had spent the last two days going through garbage and reorganizing boxes that couldn’t find order if they tried. Sweat felt like it was pouring from his forehead. He already tied an old red bandana around his head just to keep the moisture from his eyes. At least he had good ol’ Rush spinning on his dad’s suitcase turntable to keep him company.

For some reason it seemed Geddy Lee suddenly obtained a co-lead singer. Louis glanced up from where he was carrying a box across the room to the next stack he was forming. His neighbor-slash-best-friend was walking slowly down the staircase, peeking his head under the floorboards. His eyes were tightly closed and his right hand was clenched in a fist as he belted the words, “ _You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice_.”

“How’d you get past my dad?” Louis asked, dropping the box with a grunt. He wiped some more sweat off with the back of his hand, then rested both hands on his hips.

“ _If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice_!” The singing continued as he skipped down to the bottom step.

“Isn’t he in the kitchen with Claire? How did he not see you?”

He grabbed the broom that was leaning against the wall to use as a mic stand. “ _You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill!_ ”

Louis took a step towards the turn table and twisted the volume knob all the way down. Unfortunately, that wasn’t stopping him.

“ _I will choose a path that's clear! I will choose freewill!_ ” he shouted, completely a Capella.

“HARRY!”

He swung the broom to the side and rested his arm on the tip of the handle, using it to keep his balance as he crossed his ankles and rested a hand in his hip. A grin toyed as his lips as he dragged out the word, “Yes?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Your dad was sitting on the porch swing with Claire. Noticed the Warden’s car wasn’t in the driveway and the back door was unlocked, so...”

“Something wrong with your key?” Louis had given Harry a spare back when he was eleven and became a latchkey kid. And by given a spare, he meant he pretended to lose his so his mom would get another made, then gave that one to Harry. That made it much easier for when he came over practically every day. Louis’ parents never knew.

“I think Niall has it.”

And that was why. That key had made its way around their friend group whenever someone needed it. Let’s just say Louis’ mom didn’t have a particular fondness towards his friends. At least not an obvious one. Sure they hung out at the house every day, and Louis’ dad made them lunch more often than not on their afternoon break from school, but mom was another story. No patience for any goofing around from five teenage boys. Hence, the Warden.

“You know the Warden is gonna kick you out as soon as she gets home. My grounding doesn’t end until Monday morning.”

“She has no reason to if I help clean,” he reasoned.

“I’m not allowed to socialize.”

“Then we’ll clean in silence.”

Harry stood up straight to let the broom fall, than caught it before it hit the ground. He walked towards the large open space that Louis had just cleared and began sweeping the concrete, whistling the next verse of the song.

“You can go hang out with the guys; I don’t care. You shouldn’t be stuck down here just because I am,” Louis said with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Harry.

“The guys are playing basketball at Liam’s. If I wasn’t here, I’d just be sitting in the grass watching anyway.”

Harry swayed the broom back and forth until he reached the table that the record player was sitting on. He then noticed a few of Louis’ dad’s old dumbbells on the ground and took the opportunity to abandon his task. The weights were 20 pounds each and he took one in each hand with ease.

“Does your dad still use these?” he asked, and Louis knew the question was really “Can I borrow them and conveniently forget to return them until your dad asks where they are?”

“Sometimes, yeah,” Louis said. Harry pulled the weights into bicep curls, mocking as if they were lighter than they were to show off.

Today, Harry happened to be wearing an old sweatshirt that he cut the sleeves off of, much to his mother’s dismay. But the armpits had holes in them anyway and he needed more sleeveless shirts. Louis had known all too well the muscles in Harry’s arms that contracted as he lifted the weight, curving down to his elbow. And the curls on his head that bounced as he threw his head back. The way his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, and how he would look so much better without that shirt-

Okay, so here was the deal. A few months back, Louis might’ve had a bit of a flashbulb moment while watching _Dirty Dancing_ in the theatre for the third time by himself. Never in his life had he remembered having a crush on anyone. Don’t get him wrong, when they were 13 and Niall introduced them to their first _Playboy_ , he understood the appeal. What he realized that night in the theatre, with his eyes far more focused on Johnny than Baby, was that maybe he did have crushes. It was just that he never labeled them as such because they were never directed at girls.

So yes, Patrick Swayze crawling towards Jennifer Grey gave Louis the sexual awakening he definitely wasn’t expecting. And maybe, since then, Louis realized that the way he looked at his best friend had been with a little more than platonic admiration. But he’d never act on it, of course. They’d been best friends since they were eight years old and Harry’s family moved in next door. That’s ten years. He wasn’t about to do anything that would mess that up.

Louis had never expressed to anyone this revelation that he was probably gay. It wasn’t that he was scared of being shunned by his family because he knew they were the kind of people to love him unconditionally. He just didn’t want to be seen as... different. And for now, he was content with keeping this little secret to himself.

“Hey, what’s this box?” Harry said, snapping Louis out of his, admittedly embarrassing, daze. He dropped the dumbbells and Louis glanced to where he was pointing. The box was unlabeled, fairly large, and sealed with duct tape. It was quite heavy and Louis couldn’t get a good enough grip on it to move it, so he kind of just kicked it in the corner to deal with it later.

“Something the Warden got from work, I think. I dunno. My dad put it down here one day and it was never opened.”

“Then let’s open it!” Harry said eagerly, grabbing the utility knife that was sitting on the bookshelf.

“It’s probably some boring government files. Like complaints about that broken manhole cover on Fifth Street,” Louis said. That was something he’d heard his mom stress about many times over family dinner. He squatted next to Harry, who was sliding the blade across the duct tape.

“But because it’s a mysterious sealed box, we have to know,” Harry wiggled his eyebrows, then the flaps of the box popped open.

Louis didn’t know why he was expecting this box to glow like it contained priceless treasures, but it made him feel extra disappointed to see that it was just a box of files.

“What are they?” Louis lifted an eyebrow while Harry pulled a file out from the middle. He crossed his legs like a pretzel and opened it across his lap.

“They look like case files. Hit and run, armed robbery…” Harry said, flipping through the papers.

“Police reports? Should we really be going through these?” Louis scratched the side of his head, but did nothing to stop Harry.

“Looks like a lot of them are unsolved,” Harry mentioned, folding the file back up and placing it next to him. He reached his hand in again to take out another one.

“This has to be every police file to exist in Luna Hills. Not nearly this much crime happens here,” Louis said. He thumbed through them, but didn’t bother reading any.

“Why do you think so many were left unsolved?”

“I dunno, man. C’mon, let’s put them away. I have to finish cleaning out this whole basement by tomorrow.”

Louis was already picking up all the files Harry took out and sliding them back into wherever they fit. Hopefully they weren’t organized in any type of order.

“Wait. Remember the old jail? The one behind the supermarket at Fratelli Hill?”

“I bike by it on the way to school every day.”

Harry was staring intently at a piece of paper in his hands that he just unfolded, the creases yellowing from age. “Do you remember hearing that it had a second building across town? It got torn down in the 50s.”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s been mentioned.”

“Did you know that there were underground tunnels connecting them?”

Louis creased his eyebrows and parted his lips, glancing down at the paper Harry was holding. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Check this out,” he crawled over next to Louis and spread the paper on the ground in front of them so he could see. What Louis was looking at was definitely a map, but not the kind you’d see in movies where ‘X’ marks the spot. This one was drawn out with little instructions around it. The map labeled the town by street, but what was more important was what was below it. Diagonal lines connecting all parts of the town. The two halves of the old prison, the train station that was no longer running, and a mysterious fourth location with no name labelling it.

“This has to be fake. It’s drawn with pencil,” Louis pointed out, noting eraser marks around the instructions in the corner.

“It’s not. Look,” Harry held up the police report so Louis could see the official document. “It says here that two prisoners used the tunnels to escape in 1952. They killed a guard and made a run for it towards a freight train, leaving behind all their personal belongings in their cell. Including this map.”

“This map? Am I getting my fingerprints on evidence?” Louis exclaimed, dropping the paper back on the floor.

“Considering you were born a decade after it happened, I think you have a strong alibi,” Harry said. Louis sheepishly looked at the map again while Harry continued summarizing the report. “They got away and it looks like they were never found. The tunnels were extended without knowledge from the prison, but no one knows how.”

“And that’s real?” Louis widened his eyes.

“It’s from city hall. I don’t see how it couldn’t be.”

“Huh,” Louis shrugged. “Interesting.”

“Interesting?!” Harry shot his head up in astonishment. “There are tunnels underneath this very town that criminals escaped from prison through and all you have to say is “interesting”?!”

“I mean it’s cool, but is says they’re all closed off. Even the abandoned jail is still surrounded by that same barbed wire fence. There’s no way to get to it.”

“Louis, look where the torn down prison was,” he placed his finger on what seemed to be an empty field, but Louis knew that was the lot behind Hills High.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Louis said. They were both on their knees hunched over the map and turned to look at each other.

“What am I thinking?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“You want to go find those tunnels and figure out how those two prisoners escaped jail.”

The corner of Harry’s mouth lifted into a smirk and his eyes narrowed. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“Louis!” his dad’s voice shouted his name from the top of the staircase.

In a mad panic, both boys rushed to their feet. Louis closed the flaps on the box and shoved it back into the corner where he found it. Harry grabbed the map and file and dashed towards the empty space beneath the stairs to hide. In order to look busy, Louis took the broom that Harry was using and continued to sweep where he left off.

“How’s it going, kid?” his dad asked, stopping on the third step from the bottom. Claire wasn’t with him, which was surprising because she barely left his sight, but the house was so baby-proofed that it didn’t matter.

“It’s tiring,” Louis admitted, stopping to rest both of this hands on top of the broom.

“I know you’re being forced to do this, but your mom and I do appreciate it. And tomorrow you can go off with Harry and the other hooligans and do something else to get yourself grounded,” his dad laughed at his own comment, so Louis cracked a smile.

“Looking forward to it.”

“Claire and I are just going to head out for a walk to meet up with Mrs. Stevens and her son at the park and then we’re going to get some groceries, so we’ll be back in a couple hours.”

“Do you know when the Warden is coming home?” wondered Louis.

“Your _mother_ ,” his dad corrected, emphasizing the word, “was called into the office. She probably won’t be home until after dinner.”

“Sounds good. Have fun with Claire,” Louis said in order to send them off.

“See ya, pal,” he said on his way back up the stairs.

Once the coast was clear, Louis walked towards the crawl space where Harry was still hiding. “He’s gone. You can come out now,” he told him.

“Did I hear that right?” Harry asked, still holding tightly onto that file. He must’ve folded the map back into it while he was hiding. “Your dad is leaving and your mom won’t be home until tonight?”

“Harry, we aren’t going to go try and solve a mystery! This isn’t a damn treasure hunt. And I’m grounded!”

“Listen to me,” Harry took Louis’ shoulders in each of his hands to hold him steady. He was at least four inches taller than Louis, so he had to bend his knees until they were on the same eye level. The gesture wasn’t doing a lot for Louis’ dedication towards platonic admiration only. “We’re not going to be kids much longer. There’s only so much time we have left before we’re stuck at our nine-to-fives. Whatever happens in this horse-shit town, anyway? We’ll get the guys to come too, even.”

Louis kept looking into Harry’s eyes, his arms crossed over his chest, but didn’t say anything. This was crazy. Louis had a crazy person for a best friend. But because he was his best friend, Harry also knew exactly how to persuade him. “What do you say, Lou? One last adventure. At least for now.”

Louis took a deep breath and finally looked away, so Harry dropped his hands. He was still staring at Louis with this desperate, pleading, excited look in his eyes.

“I have a condition,” Louis told him.

“Anything.”

“We research this first. At the library. At the very least, we need to know what we’re getting into. I’m not dying before graduation.”

“Deal.”

Harry put his hand up and they did a sideways high-five, bent their arms at the elbow to do the same below, slide their palms across each other, and then bumped fists. A secret handshake, you could call it. They made it up when they were kids and never thought it needed to be changed. It was their thing.

Since Louis’ dad was gone they didn’t have to attempt to sneak out in any way. Just to be safe, Louis cranked on the radio in the basement to buy some time in case any suspicions arose. As long as he was back before dinner and able to sneak in through the basement window – which he also left open – he was home free. It was 11am now, so they still had quite a few hours to finish this wild expedition Harry seemed to have his heart set on.

They jogged up the stairs and walked towards the front door. Louis slipped on his red converse that were loose on his feet since he only ever tied them once and allowed them to stretch. As he stepped outside, he felt in odd sense of freedom, even though he had technically been outdoors every day since his grounding to walk to school. This was just the first time in a week he was leaving on his own accord. Well, maybe Harry’s accord. Still better than the Warden’s.

Louis left his bike on the front lawn under their giant spruce tree after school yesterday. He picked it up and pushed it towards the road in their cul-de-sac while Harry was grabbing his bike from the garage. Harry rode right down his driveway, giving himself a head start, so Louis hopped on, pushed himself foreword a few feet, and then began peddling with all his leg strength to catch up. Screw Harry and those long legs of his giving him an unfair advantage.

The library was just down the street, but so was everything in Luna Hills. If it was nice out, using a car didn’t even seem necessary unless you were in a hurry or had some groceries to bring home. Or, in the case of Louis’ friends, you were Niall.

For his seventeenth birthday, exactly a year after getting his license, Niall was given his uncle’s old black ‘67 Meteor that his parents bought off of him. That car was Niall’s pride and joy. His baby. He probably loved that car more than he’d ever love another human being. It also happened to be the only car that the five of them had 24/7 access to - as long as Niall was driving, of course. So that’s why Harry already had paying Niall a little visit as the next stop on his list after the library.

The pair peddled down their neighborhood street, swerving between the road and the sidewalk whenever a car would drive by. Louis never actually sat on his seat, figuring standing would make it easier to go faster. Harry, instead, sat casually on his too-small bike, knees almost reaching the handle bars during each cycle. The clear blue sky allowed the sun to leave a blanket of heat over the town. For a moment Louis was almost mad at himself for allowing him to remain in that humid basement all day. This was a far better alternative.

Once they got to the library, they glided up the side ramp and left their bikes at the rack, not bothering to lock them up. This wasn’t the type of town where you had to worry about your bike getting stolen. If it were, chances are you’d run into the person riding it within the next week. And if you reported it, it wasn’t like the police had anything better to do, anyway.

The town library was small and all in one compacted space. There were tables scattered in the middle of the room and bookshelves lining the walls, but all together the place couldn’t have been much bigger than the school gym. Books on the town’s history had their own little section in the back corner, but you weren’t allowed to check them out since they were the only copies of their kind. Louis made a beeline for the section, but Harry got a little distracted by who he saw sitting at one of the tables.

“Zayn! Hey, man,” Harry said, louder than even his talking voice was. Louis looked at him like he couldn’t believe he was being serious right now.

Mrs. McLaughlin, the elderly librarian, shushed him with a scowl, but Harry didn’t even notice. Zayn looked up at him with semi-wide eyes, placed the book he was reading back on the table, and slid the headphones off his ears. He was always carrying around that portable cassette player everywhere. His school bag contained more tapes than textbooks, at this point.

“Harry, this is a library. You have to be quiet,” Zayn scolded in a whisper-yell. Harry pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, only acknowledging the comment by lowering his voice before speaking again.

“Have any plans today, my friend?” Harry wondered. Louis was standing at the head of the table with his hands in his pockets, letting Harry do the talking since he was the one with a knack for persuasion.

“You’re looking at them,” Zayn said, raising his headphones back to his ears.

“Wanna help us solve a historic crime?” Harry asked, voice even lower. Zayn stopped moving.

“What do you mean?”

Louis dropped the large book in the middle of the table, the three crowding around as he flipped through, looking for the right page. A picture of the jail flashed by and Harry stopped him, turning the few pages back to where it was. Louis read the words out loud in a whispered tone, his volume just high enough that the other two next to him could hear. They didn’t want to risk anyone else finding out what they were up to. Both because they didn’t want to be stopped, and because they didn’t want their idea to be stolen.

The book didn’t give much more information than what they already knew. There was nothing about the escape by the two criminals, but there was a vague description of the murdered guard being a strong reason for the closure. No details. The one thing this book had that the file didn’t was pictures of the torn down jail. Which could come in handy since, you know, it didn’t exist anymore. That gave Harry an idea.

“We need to steal the book,” he said, finally learning how to whisper.

“We cannot steal this book,” Zayn said, voice final because he had learned early on that he was going to have to be the parent in his group of friends. Not the authority figure, but the one designated to stop the others from being _too_ stupid.

“We don’t have to steal it,” Louis decided. He turned the book towards himself and held on to the edge of the page that had all the information they needed in it. “Cough on three,” he said.

“What?” Zayn asked in confusion, but Louis was already counting in a hushed tone.

“One… Two… Three!”

The boys coughed into their fists in scattered unison as Louis ripped the page from the book. Of course this would be more than frowned upon by the librarians, especially knowing this was the only book of its kind, but wait until they found out that it helped three – well, hopefully they could get all five – boys solve a historic crime.

“Why did I let you two sit at my table?” Zayn wondered out loud, shaking his head. Louis folded up the paper and tucked it into his back pocket

“Because without us, your life would be significantly less exciting,” Harry told him, ruffling Zayn’s hair as he stood from his chair.

“I’m gonna go put this book back,” Louis informed them as he slammed it shut, following Harry in standing up. “Then let’s get out of here so we can find the other two.”

Since Zayn walked to the library, he was left with two options. The first, to stroll slowly beside as Harry and Louis circled him on their bikes, wasting time as they made their way to Liam’s house. The second, suck it up and stand on the pegs on Harry’s back tire so they could make it there faster. They were on a bit of a schedule, after all. Louis had to be home before dinner if he didn’t want to have another week of grounding. The Warden might make him clean out the attic, this time. That was true punishment.

“You’re not going to fall. Liam’s house is two minutes away,” Harry tried to reason as they stood around the bike racks.

“Then I don’t see why I can’t walk,” Zayn retorted.

“Because then Liam’s house will be ten minutes away,” said Louis, adding in his two cents. “Look, you can take mine if you want and I’ll ride with Harry.”

“What about a helmet?”

Louis thought being assigned to clean his basement because of a silly prank was the most ridiculous thing he’d have to deal with today. But no, _this_ was it.

“Zayn!” Both Harry and Louis groaned at the same time, and somehow that was enough to crack him.

“Fine, I’ll ride with Harry,” Zayn finally sighed, as if they were forcing him to swallow a worm alive. He swung the other strap of his backpack over his shoulder and pushed his horned rim glasses higher up his nose. He was going to do this. One step and there was no backing out.

Riding down the street, Harry pedaled fast enough that they could glide most of the way. Wind blew at their faces and Zayn refused to open his eyes. He held on far too tight to Harry’s shoulders and didn’t unclench his teeth during the entire ride. When they finally arrived, he stepped down on Liam’s driveway and fell to his knees like he wanted to kiss the ground.

“How melodramatic,” Harry mumbled as he let his bike fall onto the grass next to Louis’, who was far ahead of them the whole ride there. Zayn was freaking out too much to let Harry go any faster.

“Hey guys,” Liam greeted from where he was aggressively blocking Niall with is body. Niall was bouncing a basketball and aiming for the hoop nailed above the garage door. They had caught them in a heated game of one-on-one, but if you’d ask who was winning, you’d only get a truthful response from one of them.

“Hold on. I’m about to get a bank shot,” Niall said, which should’ve been Liam’s cue to block, but instead he stumbled on his feet while Niall stepped around him and sunk the ball right in the basket.

“Shit,” Liam said as he ran to retrieve the ball as it bounced down the driveway.

“Hey guys,” Niall echoed Liam with a smile as he walked towards the group that had joined them. They were standing on the grass facing the driveway.

“How’s it going, man?” Harry asked using the back of his hand to block the sun from his eyes. Liam approached next, ending up next to Louis and sticking his hand up out they could do the group’s handshake – two high fives, slide palms, fist bump. Then Louis smacked the ball from where Liam had it tucked under his arm, catching it after the first bounce. At that point, Liam looked pretty done with even trying.

“We have a preposition for you,” Harry began. He was ready to waste no time because of that fixed schedule and all. “Want to solve a historic crime?” he spoke intriguingly, then continued on to tell them the story of the tunnels, the two prisons, and the escaped prisoners. At this point he had memorized almost every detail. Niall and Liam were already eagerly agreeing before Harry could even get to the end.

“So where is this place?” Liam asked first from where he was squatting on the driveway. They were sat in a circle now. Niall collapsed on the grass lazily, Louis laying on his stomach as he picked at the blades, Harry sat with his legs crossed and speaking animatedly, and Zayn leaning against the tree with his arms folded together.

“The entrance is in the empty lot next to Hills High. We just have to figure out how to actually get to the opening,” Louis informed the group.

“It has to still be there,” Harry added. “It’s not like they can fill in a tunnel that stretches across the entire town.”

“What are we going to do when we get there?” Zayn asked next. He was still unconvinced, but knew he was going to tag along whether he liked it or not.

“We’re going to figure out how those two criminals escaped prison without being caught,” Harry said, rather firmly.

“And if we don’t?”

Harry and Louis glanced at each other across the circle because they never really thought about that. Louis shrugged, “Then at least we have a cool story to tell.”

“Alright, we’re wasting time,” Harry demanded, moving to stand up and dust the grass off the back of his pants. “How are we getting to the school?”

Niall smirked while pulling his keys from his pocket. “You know I got it covered.”

~

Mayor Elizabeth Tomlinson was one of the most well-liked mayors Luna Hills had ever had. At least that was what she gathered in the last year of her leadership. Eliza enjoyed her job, and she did it quite well. Especially while balancing life with her husband and two children. Of course there was stress, but this town needed her. She kept order in Luna Hills in the most poised and diplomatic way she could. And she did it all in a blouse and pantsuit.

But on this particular Saturday, while going through a stack of paperwork that would last her the weekend, Eliza got a call she was not expecting.

“Your son and his band of hooligans are causing trouble in this town, Liz!” Mrs. McLaughlin, the town’s librarian and infamous angry grandmother, barked over the phone. Eliza was hunched over her desk with her head in her hand as she held the phone to her ear. She’d have to ask her assistant for an aspirin after this.

“What has Louis done now, Mrs. McLaughlin?” she sighed. Most of her complaints against Louis were minor, like how fast he rode his bicycle past her on the sidewalk as she was walking home from work. “ _Could’ve knocked me right on my tooshie_!” Eliza would occasionally say something to Louis in passing over dinner, but it was more like a casual warning to stay away from Mrs. McLaughlin in general. She could never say anything else outright to the woman. As mayor, she had a reputation to maintain.

“He ripped a page out of one of our Luna Hills history books! I saw it with my own two eyes, Liz. I don’t know why he even needed it, the little scoundrel.”

“Was it something of importance?” Eliza asked, hoping the answer was ‘no’ just to make this conversation end so she could apologize on behalf of her son and get back to work.

“Of course it was. All of the pages in that book are important,” she said with a scoff. “It’s the only copy we have, you know. He was in here with those other boys too. The one whose hair is too long and the other who always has that noise box on his ears.”

“Wait a second,” Eliza lifted her head. “When was he there?”

“Just twenty minutes ago. Tried to put the book back like I wouldn’t notice, the little sh-”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. McLaughlin, I’ll have to call you back.” Eliza slammed the phone down, then picked it up again to dial the number to her house. She waited through all the rings, but there was no answer. Once, again, she dropped it on the receiver to try one more time, but it starting ringing.

“Mrs. McLaughlin, please-”

“Hey hon, sorry to bother you at work.” It was her husband. Exactly who she needed to talk to.

“Phil, oh good! Is Louis still at home? His grounding doesn’t end until Monday, I hope you remember.”

“Of course I do, hon. He’s home. Still cleaning up the basement.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yep! Said bye to him and everything before I left. Listen, I’m calling from a payphone at the grocery store. Do you want chicken or roast for dinner?”

“Either is fine. I really have to go, Phil. Love you, see you at home,” she said, then quickly hung up the phone.

If there was anything Mrs. McLaughlin was, it wasn’t a liar. And that woman knew Louis’ face all too well. A quick call to the Styles’ house got Eliza all the answers she needed. Harry was gone too, which almost always meant he was with Louis.

Eliza grabbed her keys off her desk and marched towards her office door. This paperwork would have to wait until tomorrow. Sometimes family has to come before work. Especially when you have to parent your disobedient kids.

~

The five of them piled into Niall’s car, Louis taking shotgun even though Zayn called it. His loss for not getting to the door fast enough. Harry was stuck in the middle seat between the other two in the back, which didn’t quite make sense since he was the tallest and his head almost hit the roof with that middle hump.

Niall always had music blaring in his car, so it wasn’t surprising to hear the radio blast on as soon as he started the engine. The last station he was listening to was now playing Billy Idol’s version of _Mony Mony._ Niall twisted the volume knob down before putting the car in drive, but just barely.

Never one for abiding by the speed limit, Niall flew down the neighborhood road until reaching the stop sign. He slowed down, but did not fully stop before making his right turn. Once he was on the next road, his foot once again pressed hard on the gas.

“Jesus, man, you’re gonna kill us,” Liam said like it was the first time he’d driven with Niall.

“You guys should put on your seatbelts,” Zayn commented, looking at the others next to him. He, of course, was already buckled in.

“Might have to if Niall doesn’t cool it,” Harry said, which was his nice way of saying “I’m not putting my seatbelt on to drive five minutes to the school.”

Louis stared out the front window, ignoring the bickering because it was inevitable. Niall drove like a mad man, but the rest of them had to put up with it because he was the one with the car. Just the way it goes. But then Louis watched a car drive by coming the other way, almost in slow motion even though Niall was still speeding, and looked directly at the person driving. Luckily, the person wasn’t looking back at him.

“Was that the Warden?” Louis asked the others, head turned so he could see out the back window. The three in the back also turned to look.

“Looks like her car, but didn’t you say she was at the office all day?” Harry said.

“She’s supposed to be,” Louis began, thinking to himself for a moment, then he turned to Niall. “We have to drive by my house. If she’s home and I’m not, I’ll be in deep shit.”

“So you’re giving up on solving the mystery?” Liam exclaimed in mild astonishment, grabbing onto the back of Louis’ seat.

“If she’s waiting for me at home, you bet your ass I am.”

Niall did a quick U-turn in the middle of the street as soon as any and all other cars were out of the way. They were following behind the Warden, but from a distance. They followed her until she turned, but it wasn’t the turn to go home. Louis made Niall drive by his house anyway, and thankfully the driveway was totally empty.

“Maybe it wasn’t her,” Niall shrugged.

“Or maybe she just had to go somewhere for work,” Zayn added hopefully.

“Yeah,” Louis said making himself comfortable in his seat as he tried to relax. “Maybe.”

Before heading back to the school, they decided to stop and the small hardware store downtown. Well, the cross shape of streets that was referred to as “downtown.” The five of them realized that if they were going to explore underground tunnels they would probably need flashlights to be able to actually see. Harry also made the suggestion of picking up a pair of walkie talkies in case they happened to split up. Louis and Zayn volunteered to go in since the whole group wasn’t needed for the purchase.

“We should buy an extra pack of batteries too,” Zayn suggested before they approached the old man standing behind the cash register.

“You really think all five of them might die?” Louis asked.

“You never know,” Zayn shrugged, then picked up a pack off the shelf.

Ten minutes later, Niall parked the car on the street in front of the empty lot rather than the school parking lot like Louis was thinking. Since it was a Saturday, he supposed that the parked car would be suspicious either way. Perhaps even more so in an empty parking lot.

The five of them got out of the car, gathering around the sidewalk as they waited for each other to be ready. They didn’t know exactly what they were waiting for. No one had an actual plan from here. At least not past “Let’s solve a crime!”

Before he stepped out, Louis made sure to check the clock on the radio. It was almost one, meaning they had about four hours for this little adventure of theirs. He hoped that was enough time because he was not going to risk extending his grounding for this.

Okay, well, he supposed he kind of already was. Dammit, Harry.

Harry stood at the front of the group, staring out at the empty field next to them. There was nothing but grass until the very back where a row of trees joined up with the school next door. During gym class they’d sometimes use the field for soccer, despite the annoying manhole in the middle of the field that too-often got tripped over. Hills High was built here in the late sixties, years after the prison got torn down. Well, rebuilt. The first school burned to the ground near the library. Old building, faulty wiring. It happened over the summer so no one was hurt.

“So…” Liam began. “What do we do now?”

Pulling the map from his back pocket, Harry unfolded it in front of him to take a look. The others gathered around, hoping to find clues as to where the entrance was.

“It just shows the tunnels,” Harry said, defeated. “Nothing about how to get there, except here,” he pointed his finger to a spot that was a blob of scribbled pencil on the map. “It says to begin at “main exit to building two”. Where the hell is the main exit?”

“Well,” Louis began. It was his turn to show off his resourcefulness as he dug into his own pocket. He pulled out the folded piece of paper from the library book to show them all the photo of a cement building with tiny windows and a barbed wire fence surrounding it.

“What is this supposed to show us if we can’t see the inside?” Niall wondered, scanning the pictures and words on the page. Again, it wasn’t a lot that they didn’t already know.

“Yeah,” Zayn agreed. “All this tells us is that the building was in the middle of this plot of land.”

“Wait,” Louis looked up slowly from the map, the flash of a lightbulb going on in his head. He stared ahead of him, eyes squinted both in concentration and from the sunlight casting on his face. Then he called out, “Follow me!” and ran into the lot.

The others trailed along, despite questioning him as they jogged towards the middle of the field. When Louis stopped, the rest just stared at him. He stared at the manhole.

“No,” Zayn said definitely, crossing his arms. “Absolutely not.”

“You guys…” Louis began.

“I’m with Zayn on this one,” Liam added.

“Guys,” he continued.

“Isn’t there shit down there? I’m pretty sure that’s where your shit goes,” Niall joined.

“GUYS!” Harry shouted this time, which got their attention much quicker because Harry never shouted. They all looked up at him, then he turned his head towards Louis, who was thanking him with his eyes.

“I don’t think it’s a real manhole,” Louis finally said. “I think it’s just designed to look like one.”

“How would you know?” Liam asked.

“Well, look around,” Louis gestured to the open space around them, green-ish grass covering every inch of it. “Do you see another hole in the ground?”

“Well, no, but-”

“He’s got a point,” Niall cut in. “And how hard would it be to use that as a cover? No one’s gonna question the authenticity of a manhole.”

“No way,” Zayn said, waving his arms in an ‘x’ as he took a step back. “There is a sewer down there and there’s nothing you can do to make me go in.”

Harry cocked an eyebrow. “Nothing?”

“Nothing,” Zayn confirmed.

“And you’re totally sure that’s a sewer?”

“One hundred percent.”

Harry squatted down to his knees and stretched his hands across the large circle on the ground that they were standing around. Realizing what Harry was doing, Louis lowered himself as well to assist, and then Liam and Niall too. Once they all had a good enough grip, the rust hard on their fingers, Harry looked up at Zayn.

“Only one way to find out, I guess,” Harry said, then the four of them lifted the cover off.

Nothing jumped out at them, which Louis supposed was a good sign. No ghost of the dead prison guard, or escaped prisoners, for that matter. They still didn’t know for sure if those two prisoners actually made it out. All they knew was that they were never found.

What was under the manhole cover, however, were rungs like a ladder. Now, Louis had never seen the inside of a sewer, but he could only assume that there would be something like a ladder to get down it. Maybe Zayn was right.

That didn’t stop Harry from stretching his leg towards the first rung without a second thought.

“What are you doing?” Zayn asked, and Harry froze.

“What we came here to do,” Harry said. “Exploring the tunnels.”

“We still don’t even know that’s what this is,” Liam told him.

“Well, we aren’t going to figure it out just standing here, are we?” He looked around at all of them, then stepped his other foot down as well. As he climbed lower, the other four exchanged worried glances. Then Louis sighed and followed him next.

“You too?!” Zayn exclaimed. “Are none of you sane?”

“Harry’s right,” Niall said this time. “We aren’t going to find anything out up here.” And then he was behind Louis.

Zayn looked at Liam next to him, a hope in his eyes that Liam would stay with him. They could just wait in the car if they had to. It wouldn’t take too long for the others to realize they were wrong. They probably wouldn’t even make it back to the car before those three would be poking their heads back up from the ground. But them Liam stepped towards it.

“Not you too! Come on, Li,” he pleaded. “There’s no way this is safe.”

Liam just shrugged, then squatted down to step on the first rung. He had to hold onto the ground for support. “Live a little, Zayn. You don’t want to regret it if you don’t.”

Then Zayn was standing there alone while his friends were all down in a goddamn _sewer_. He could only imagine what kind of diseases were lurking down there. Did they have a death wish of some sort? This was ridiculous. Absolutely insane. There was no way he was participating in this. He folded his arms across his chest and stared as the hole in disgust. And then he dropped them.

“Fuck it,” he mumbled to himself in defeat. He looked around, making sure no one could see what he was about to do. Then he tightened the straps on his backpack, took a deep breath, and stepped towards the hole.

“Holy shit,” Harry said in amazement. He had already clicked on his flashlight and was shining it at his surroundings just as Louis had reached the bottom. “Are you guys seeing this?”

Brick lined the walls of the narrow tunnel, only fitting about three or four people across. Every few feet hung a lantern with lightbulbs that were long burned out. All along the floor and ceiling was cement, but the ground was covered in dirt and debris from thirty years without use. Every few feet, cobwebs of different sizes were woven across the two sides. The tunnel seemed to go on forever until it reached a curve.

“Woah,” Louis and Niall both mused at the same time. Liam was next to arrive as they clicked their flashlights on one by one. They knew Zayn would give in eventually.

“I guess you were right,” Liam said. He walked over to one of the walls and ran his fingers across the brick like he was testing if it was real.

“I’m gonna need you to repeat that once Zayn gets here,” Harry told him.

As if on cue, Zayn’s legs were visible through the opening of the small tube. Then his backpack, and then his face.

“Well, well, well,” Harry said as Zayn finally placed his foot on the ground. “I don’t know exactly what a sewer looks like, but I don’t see any water or shit down here, so…” he shrugged dramatically.

“Not yet, anyway,” Niall commented.

Zayn just rolled his eyes because it was easier than admitting he was wrong. Allowed him to keep some of his pride, as well.

“It’s still dangerous. We don’t know what’s down here,” Zayn pointed out, wiggling his flashlight at Harry like it would prove his point.

“Maybe we’ll find a rotting corpse,” Liam said, which earned him an elbow in the stomach from Niall. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Shut up, man. There are no rotting corpses down here,” Niall said, but his accusatory tone made it clear that just the thought of it creeped him out.

“You don’t know that,” Liam retorted.

 “They did say there was a guard that was killed,” Louis defended Liam, only because it was true.

“But they found his body!” Zayn exclaimed, then turned to Harry. “They found his body, right?”

“All of you, shut it,” Harry told them. His tone was more motherly than demanding. “You work yourselves up like that and we’re not going to figure out anything. We have limited time as it is. We gotta get Louis home.”

Now was really not the time, but Louis felt a little flattered that Harry so adamant about getting back before the Warden. He tried not to make it show too much, even though he couldn’t help the bit of pink in his cheeks. Good thing it was so dark down here.

“Well,” Louis decided to say, clearing his throat. “Harry, do you want to lead the way?”

Harry once again unfolded the map that hadn’t left his hand. As if it was going to show him another way they could go besides straight ahead. He began walking slowly, everyone but Zayn following. Louis was a half-step behind him and Niall and Liam were father back, trying to drag Zayn each by one arm. He gave in by shoving them away, then pulling the sleeves back down on his jacket like them touching him was a personal offence.

“What’s in your backpack, anyway?” Liam asked, mostly because they were surrounded by nothing but stone and needed something to do to pass the time as they walked.

“Tapes,” Zayn said simply. And there really were tapes. Louis had seen them on multiple occasions. At lunch, sometimes, Zayn would bring them out and show him new albums he got over the weekend. The guy wasn’t all stress and caution. Most of the time, he was actually pretty cool to be around. Like when his friends weren’t dragging him through tunnels under their city towards an abandoned jail and possible danger.

“There’s gotta be more than tapes,” insisted Liam. “The thing looks full.”

“Well, my tape player and my headphones too.”

“Still doesn’t seem like enough to fill the space,” Niall piped up. The two of them were walking on each side of Zayn now.

“Will you two let it go?” Louis turned his head to say. “Who cares what’s in his backpack?”

“But he carries it around with him everywhere,” argued Liam.

“Yeah, because my _things_ are in it. You know, like pencils and textbooks. Ever heard of homework, Liam?”

“Shut up!” Liam said, hitting Zayn in the chest with the back of his hand. Not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to get his point across. School work had always been a sensitive subject for Liam since his grades were never exactly the best. When they got along, Zayn even sometimes offered to tutor him. Seldom did he actually take him up on the offer.

“Don’t hit me, you dick!” Zayn retorted with a punch to Liam’s shoulder. It must’ve been harder because Liam grabbed the spot with his other hand like it actually hurt.

“What the fuck, man?”

“You kind of deserved it,” Niall told Liam, which earned him his own punch to the arm by Liam stretching his fist behind Zayn.

“You asshole!” Niall snapped back.

Louis rolled his eyes then tuned around fully to walk backwards a few steps. “Would the three of you cut it out for once?” he said.

“If you don’t stop arguing we are turning this car around,” Harry quipped without looking at them, but Louis could see the humored grin on his face.

“Liam started it,” Zayn said, but the comment was met with a glare from his accused.

One good thing about fighting with friends, at least in this group, was that they would all be over it within about five minutes. Grudges were never held and apologies were only ever implied, but always met with forgiveness.

“If you must know,” Zayn decided to say after a moment of silence between them all, “I keep my sketch book in here too. It’s easier to just stick everything in one bag.”

“Why keep it a secret?” Niall asked with genuine wonder instead of the previous accusatory tone.

Zayn just shrugged. “I didn’t. No one ever asked.”

The group of them continued walking forward because it was the only way to go. For at least fifteen minutes, that’s all it was. Walking towards nothing. At least it felt like nothing. Louis kept his pacing with Harry’s even though he had to walk faster to keep up. He wasn’t sure the last time he saw so much determination in his best friend.

“What are we going to do if we actually find anything?” Louis decided to ask. The question was only directed at Harry. The others were too busy going on about the newest Star Trek episode, a series that Niall had begged them all to watch so he had someone to talk about it with.

“Bask in our glory,” Harry said with a wide smile, throwing an arm over Louis’ shoulders.

“But for real. We can’t tell anyone we came down here. We could get arrested for trespassing.”

“Is it trespassing if the tunnels stretch across all of Luna Hills?”

“There’s gotta be some sort of law against being here,” Louis said. Harry looked him in the eyes for a moment, that same smirk not leaving his lips. His arm also did not leave Louis’ shoulders. Not that Louis was complaining.

“Then we can bask privately,” Harry decided. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll discovered some buried treasure and not want to tell anyone. Or maybe we’ll find nothing.”

“I guess you’re right,” Louis shrugged, making Harry remove his arm. That definitely wasn’t his intention. He could still feel the warmth where it was. “We don’t know exactly what’s down here,” he continued anyway, trying not to let his thoughts get in the way.

“And isn’t that exciting?” Harry clapped his hands like a child. It was, Louis supposed. Sometimes the fun in doing something is not knowing how it could turn out.

Off in the distance, Louis was the first to notice a jagged pattern in the layering of the brick wall. He pointed it out to the rest of them and they jogged towards it, excited that they were finally seeing _something._ As they got closer, they realized it was actually an opening in each side of the walls – bricks removed from their rightful spots. On one side, Louis peeked his head through, shining his flashlight in front of him. The opening was just big enough to crawl through, but what was on the other side looked less than appealing. The tunnel was no more than five feet high, a full circle surrounded by dirt. Dirt that could possibly be loose enough to fall at any moment, trapping them in there forever.

“Maybe this is why they never were found,” Liam commented, his words echoing Louis’ thoughts. He had his head next to Louis’ while peering into the tunnel as well. The other three were checking out the opening on the other side.

“Why are you so sure they’re dead?” Louis blurted, turning to face him.

“Should be karma, don’t you think? They killed a guard to escape, why should they make it out alive?”

“That might not be what happened.”

“Didn’t you read the police report? It said he was killed.”

“It said he was found dead the same night, not how he died. What if he just had a heart attack and no one was there to help him?”

Zayn must’ve been listening to their conversation because he turned around to say, “Why are you defending prisoners? They escaped jail. They aren’t innocent.”

“I’m just saying that-”

“Louis could be right,” Harry spoke next as he stood up straight, flashlight still shining into the hole. “We don’t know the full story.”

“That’s why we need to keep searching,” Louis added. “Find what the cops couldn’t.” He didn’t know at what point he went from being as against all of this as Zayn was to as determined for answers as Harry, but actually being here flushed him with the desire to explore.

“Well, where to then, captain?” Niall said, looking to Harry because he was the one in charge of the map. As he opened it once again, the others crowded him and shined their flashlights on so they could all see.

“If we came through the south entrance, that means that this one should be to the train station,” Harry pointed to the one Louis and Niall were previously looking at, “and that one is to the gas station.”

“It doesn’t even look like there’s a gas station there anymore,” Niall observed, pointing to the spot on the map. It did look quite far off from the edge of town.

“You can’t tell where anything is based on that. How do we even know this thing is to scale?” Zayn asked with a furrowed brow, flicking the corner of the paper like it was useless.

“Maybe it’s code for something,” Niall suggested. “In case someone actually found out about their plan to escape.”

Louis widened his eyes, waving his pointer finger at Niall. “That’s actually a good point. It’s not likely that they’d map out the exact spot they’d be leaving from. Especially since they ended up dropping the map. That’s probably why they got away!”

“Unless they died,” Liam deadpanned. Four sets of eyes landed on him and he shrugged in defense. “I’m just saying!”

“We should continue straight ahead, where the real tunnel follows,” Zayn said right away.

“But the side ones are how they escaped,” Niall rebutted. “That’s where the real mystery is.”

“Isn’t it in how these side tunnels got made to begin with? You can’t do all that in an overnight escape. Besides, why are there two?” Louis shined his flashlight on both of them to further his argument. “I think the answers would be in their cell, don’t you?”

“Do we even know which cells are theirs?” Liam asked.

“It said they were cellmates, I’m pretty sure. Did it say which one they were in, Harry?” Louis looked at him, but he wasn’t paying attention. Harry tilted his head between the map and the original tunnel in front of him, then between the two on either side. He was deep in thought, which Louis could tell based on how cavernous the crease between his eyebrows currently was. When the attention was brought to Harry, they all watched him in silence for a moment.

“Harry?” Louis asked again.

“We could always split up,” Harry suggested, looking at each of them. No one seemed too taken aback by the suggestion. Except, of course, for one person in particular.

“Split up?!” Zayn exclaimed. “What, and increase our odds of death? Have you ever seen Scooby Doo? If Liam is right and those prisoners didn’t make it out alive, who’s to say we will? There’s no way I’m going. Not this time.”

“I mean, no one ever _died_ on Scooby Doo,” muttered Niall.

“We have walkie talkies,” Louis pointed out, remembering how he and Harry each clipped one to their hips as they were getting ready outside of the car. “If anything happens, we can call the others for help.”

“And then what? How are we going to get any help down here? And then if we did, you can be damn sure we’re all getting arrested for trespassing.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Liam rolled his eyes.

“You know what?” Zayn decided, taking a step back from the group. “I can’t do this. You guys go ahead. Let me know how it turns out. I’m going back to the car.” He already began turning around back towards the way they came.

“Wait!” Louis said, putting a hand up before Zayn could keep moving. “That’s actually not a bad idea. You can keep watch and make sure no one follows us down here.” And maybe make it easier for the rest of them who actually wanted to be there.

Zayn hesitated for a moment, then without turning around said, “Fine.” He walked forward a few more steps, then sarcastically called out, “Good luck with your mystery solving!” before pulling his backpack tighter and lifting his flashlight higher. The only thing he was determined to do was get back to the safety of the car. And maybe do some sketching while sitting on the hood as he waited for them to be done with this ridiculous idea. As long as he was above ground again, he’d be happy.

“Well,” Harry sighed, bringing his attention back to the others. “Do you three want to split up? I mean, we are pretty tight on time.”

Louis noticed Niall glance at the watch he was wearing, then leaned closer so he could see the time as well. Harry was right; it was nearly two in the afternoon.

“As long as we’re in twos,” Louis said. “I don’t think anyone should go alone.”

“Agreed,” Liam nodded his head.

“If we can only pick two tunnels, I say we pick the second prison and the supposed gas station,” Niall looked at everyone, who were all nodding their heads. The gas station was their biggest clue after all, considering there was no real gas station in that direction.

“Alright,” Harry tucked the map under one of his arms and his flashlight under the other, then clapped his hands together. “Since Velma is keeping watch – Shaggy, Scooby, you two check out the tunnel that goes to the gas station,” he gestured between Niall and Liam. “Daphne and I will keep heading towards the second half of the jail,” he directed with a proud grin, just like you’d expect from Fred.

Admittedly, Louis quite enjoyed being referenced as the Daphne to Harry’s Fred, but that really wasn’t important right now.

“And take this,” Louis added, pulling the walkie talking from his waistband and handing it to Niall since he was closer. He also trusted him with it slightly more than Liam. “That way we can still communicate.”

“When should we meet back here?” Niall asked. Louis didn’t realize that Harry was also wearing a watch until he noticed him looking down at it.

“An hour and a half? That should be enough time. Just radio in if you need more or less.” Harry clicked the talk button on the radio so it would make a static noise. Louis already made sure they were both set to the same channel back in the car.

“And also if you find anything,” Liam said. “We’re looking at two halves of the same puzzle, right?”

“Right,” Harry lifted the corner of his mouth into a smirk. “See you guys on the other side.”

Liam sighed, “You better not mean the afterlife.”

~

Speeding down the road in her station wagon – well, going the exact speed limit since the mayor shouldn’t get caught for speeding – Eliza was just in the beginning stages of her fury. Louis was out of the house, she knew he was. He had gone blatantly against his grounding and was now running amuck around town with those other four boys whom he called his friends. Eliza supposed they weren’t _all_ bad since her heart had a soft spot for little Harry next door, who wasn’t so little anymore. But all together those boys were just waiting to find trouble. Or for trouble to find them.

Eliza’s first stop was to the library to find out more information from Mrs. McLaughlin. She wanted to know exactly when Louis got to the library, who he was with, what he did while he was there, what time he left, and anything she might’ve heard him say.

Eliza knew she could just wait until Louis got home to punish him them, but something in her gut was telling her there was a reason he had left home this particular day. Louis had never snuck out while he was grounded. At least not that she knew of. He knew his mother’s wrath and would rarely mess with it. This was a risk, meaning it had to have a reason. Eliza was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Unfortunately, when she arrived at the library, Eliza got much fewer answers than she was hoping for. The mayor stood there and did her best to look like she cared while Mrs. McLaughlin showed her the page in the book that was ripped out.

“What am I supposed to do with this now?” Mrs. McLaughlin said firmly, pointing her finger directly on the book which sat on the front desk that separated them.

“I’m very sorry, Mrs. McLaughlin. We’ll pay to get it fixed, I promise.”

“Fixed? There was valuable information on that page!”

That was a clue, Eliza knew it was. She leaned forward onto the counter and widened her eyes.

“Can you tell me what was on that page, at all?” she wondered.

“Sure, it was all about the prison here in Luna Hills. Both halves, too. Even the one that got torn down.”

“The prison?” Eliza tilted her head in interest.

“Look, Liz, I really need to get this book-”

“Thank you for your help,” Eliza said, then made a dash for the door.

“Wait, what about my book?” Mrs. McLaughlin called after her.

“I told you, we’ll get it fixed. Have a great day!”

Then Eliza was off again to sit in her car and ponder. Why exactly did Louis need those pages? Why would he and his friends need to go check it out? Why couldn’t he just stay in the basement and finish his punishment like a normal kid?

Wait a minute…

The basement, the book, the prison, that _box_ that she shouldn’t have stored down there.

Eliza glanced at herself in the rear-view mirror, catching her own eye and seeing the realization light up her face. “ _No fucking way…_ ”

~

This tunnel was never ending. That’s what Louis gathered, considering how long they’d been walking. To keep themselves entertained, he and Harry started making shadow puppets on the walls with their flashlights. Louis did the classic pinched finger dog while Harry just wiggled his finger in front of the light beam.

“What’s that supposed to be?” Louis raised an eyebrow at him.

“Worm,” Harry said, moving it closer to Louis’ dog.

“You’re an idiot,” Louis said jokingly, dropping his hand to his side.

Harry laughed. “I’m simplistic.”

“You’re anything but simplistic.”

“Why can’t a worm be a shadow puppet?”

“Worms don’t do anything,” Louis argued. “They’re just squirmy bugs.” He messed up his face like he was disgusted by the thought of them.

“They’re invertebrates,” Harry corrected.

“They live in dirt and eat carcasses.”

“At least they do something.”

“Not in my puppet show,” Louis said defiantly, using his puppet dog’s finger-mouth to eat Harry’s finger-worm, which looked much better as shadows than it did in real life.

“Show’s over then,” Harry shrugged. “That was the only puppet I had.”

“Should’ve come more prepared.”

Even further they walked, but boredom was really starting to settle in. Harry had the other walkie talkie still attached to the waistband of his jeans, but it hadn’t made even the buffering sound of static. That had to mean Niall and Liam were just as bored as them. Maybe even more, since they had to endure those dirt tunnels.

“What if we don’t even find anything and this is all for nothing?” Louis whined, throwing his head back in exhaustion.

“Why do you keep asking ‘what if’? So that we can come up with resolutions to scenarios that haven’t even happened?”

“I’m just saying, we should be prepared.”

“You know what’s even better than that? Optimism. Look,” Harry stopped them for a moment and used his thumb and pointer finger to push the corners of Louis’ mouth into a smile. “Better already,” he grinned like he was proud of his work. Louis tried to frown again, but couldn’t help the laughter that escaped anyway.

“You should be a motivational speaker,” Louis said flatly, the sarcasm obvious.

“I could incorporate puppets into my lecture,” Harry suggested.

Louis would’ve tried to reply with something just as witty, but he was too focused on what his flashlight was now showing as they curved around the final turn. At the end of the tunnel, no more than fifty feet away, was a ladder.

“Look!” Louis exclaimed, shaking the flashlight so the beam would emphasize its presence. He dropped in on the ground in excitement, but it was still working so he scooped it right back up. “That’s gotta be it; the entrance to the second building!”

“Fucking finally!” Harry cheered and laughed in the same breath. At the same time, they both took off jogging towards the ladder.

~

“Get your foot out of my face,” Niall said in annoyance, stopping his crawling to let Liam get ahead.

“I can’t see where my foot is when I’m in front of you,” Liam snapped back. “Would you like to take the lead?”

“I prefer having you as a barrier between me and whatever is at the end of this tunnel.”

“How kind of you,” Liam rolled his eyes.

The pair realized now that they didn’t know why they agreed to this. Louis and Harry got the easy path that they actually knew where it lead to. Niall and Liam got the dirt tunnel that lead to a mystery destination and was probably full of some sort of death traps. Not only that, but the further they walked down it, the smaller it got. Hence their current situation of crawling through literal dirt. Niall suggested they go back and at least follow the other two to see what they found, but Liam insisted he could see the exit up ahead. So, on they went.

“You know,” Liam began again, because if they weren’t speaking they could hear every noise that would inevitably freak them out, “You can be a real asshole sometimes.”

“Is that so?” Niall deadpanned.

“Like at school on Friday. You told me you’d drive me home and then left without me.”

“I waited and you never showed up.”

“I was running late because I had to talk to Mrs. Chambers after class.”

“Why did you have to talk to Mrs. Chambers?”

“None of your business,” Liam said sternly. That wasn’t what this conversation was about.

“You aren’t failing English, are you?”

“I said, it’s none of your business!” The heightened tone and volume of his voice got Niall to shut up, but it also made him slow down.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he said quietly, noticing how upset the implication of his question was making Liam.

Liam’s expression softened, eyebrows raised and eyes widening. Niall wouldn’t know, of course, because they were still crawling through a dark dirt tunnel and couldn’t see each other’s faces.

“It’s fine,” Liam muttered. He really didn’t want to discuss this any further. School was never his strongest suit, and his friends knew that. It was also his emotional weakness. He’d failed more than his fair share of classes and really couldn’t afford to lose any more credits. It wasn’t like he was dumb, he just had trouble grasping the concepts and focusing on the lectures in class. He did try, though. Maybe not the hardest, but he did try.

Niall offered to take the lead for a little while, which didn’t actually do much since there was only one way they could go, but Liam stepped aside so he could squeeze past anyway.

After taking one look at Niall from behind, Liam noticed their new travel companion. He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes widening. On Niall’s back, just below his shoulder blade, was the largest spider he had ever seen. Its legs were long and its body hairy. It wasn’t moving, just along for the ride. The size had to be nearly as big as Liam’s fist.

“Niall,” Liam said quietly, in case his voice would frighten the spider. “Stop moving. Don’t turn around. Just freeze.”

Liam shined his flashlight directly on the spider, which was definitely the wrong thing to do. Niall stopped crawling, but his still turned his head over his shoulder. “Why? What’s--”

Niall looked down and let out an instant scream. In a panic the spider crawled the rest of the way down his back, making Niall rush to stand, back hunched, so he could get a better angle to slap it off. His arms were flailing and light flashed around the tunnel like a rave. Liam tried to help, pulling at his shirt to get it away from Niall. It worked, but not like Liam was hoping.

The spider dropped to their feet, causing them both to let out shrieks that would make you wonder if their voices even dropped yet. Niall grabbed at Liam to hide behind him as they scrambled backwards away from the spider, but it kept running closer to them. Who knew spiders could even move so fast?

They fell backwards, Liam falling directly onto Niall as they both dropped their flashlights. His elbow accidentally hit Niall right in the crotch, who let out a painful grunt as he covered himself with both hands and rolled to his side. Liam tried to apologize, but he was too busy coughing on the dirt and pebbles they had kicked up during the fall.

“Are you okay?” Liam choked out.

“Yeah, I just don’t think I’ll ever be having children,” Niall wheezed.

Sitting up, Liam grabbed one of the flashlights that landed next to him. It was still on, so he shined it where the spider had previously been running at them.

“I think we scared that thing off,” Liam said in relief. He kept searching for a few more seconds just to be sure.

Niall put a hand to his forehead and took a deep breath before forcing himself to sit up. He glared at Liam, who offered back the mix of a smile and a grimace. Niall shook his head.

“Next time we spontaneously decide to solve a mystery, I’m taking one of the others as a partner,” he said breathlessly, then gestured between them. “This: never again.”

The tunnel wasn’t getting any smaller, but they also felt like they weren’t getting any closer to wherever the hell it was supposed to take them. Dirt was getting trapped under their fingernails and their limbs were aching from the crouched position. Niall’s for another reason, but he made himself tough it out. Maybe Niall was right, Liam thought. Maybe they should just go back. Follow where Louis and Harry were exploring. At least it seemed slightly safer.

And then they saw it. Well, Niall saw it.

“The tunnel ends up there,” he said, stopping so he could lift a hand to point. “Looks like there’s some sort of trap door.”

“Well, crawl faster, then!” Liam exclaimed. He’d really love to be able to stand again.

The pair hurried towards the door as fast as their limbs could carry them. It was made of wood panels and had a slit in it for a handle. They used their combined strength to push it open, letting loose dirt and bright sunlight pour in. At least they could finally stand up straight. Niall pulled himself into the outside first, then Liam followed quickly after.

“Wait a second…” Niall said, glancing at their surroundings. He had to squint his eyes since they were still used to the dark. They were surrounded by overgrown grass at the back of a building, but next to them was a set of rusted train tracks.

“But the map said-” Liam tried to reason out loud, but cut himself off because he and Niall were looking at each other in mild disbelief.

“We couldn’t have taken the wrong tunnel. Louis triple checked the map before we split up,” Niall said. He look around again, as if the building they were next to would morph into the mystery they were expecting. He had one hand on his hip and the other shielding sun from his eyes.

Liam raised his arms from his sides and then dropped them again in defeat. “Then why the hell are we standing behind the old train station?!”

~

Zayn really wished he could figure out what the hell that echoed rattling noise was as he walked alone through the darkness of the tunnel. He should’ve thought this through better before deciding to go off on his own. But he could not put up with his friends and that crazy idea of theirs any longer. Not that he was generally a superstitious person, nor would he say he believed in the paranormal, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that there was something haunting that abandoned jail. Zayn was not about to get possessed today, no sir-ee. Not when he was only a week away from graduation.

From behind him a loud crash sounded and Zayn whipped his entire body around. He listened intently for a moment, pointing the flashlight directly ahead of him, then realized that the rattling had stopped. An echo of voices rang towards him, causing a shiver to run through his body.

“Hello?” he called out. There was no reply, but he felt his jaw begin trembling. Dammit, there was that rattling again. Or, wait… Zayn clenched his jaw, realizing that the noise came from his own chattering teeth. Alright, so he was going crazy. Everything just sounded so much spookier down here. He had to get above ground ASAP.

Zayn decided that the noises had to be an echo from the others, then carried on his way. Solving that little mystery was not going to get him closer to the exit, so it didn’t matter anyway. He just had to stop letting every little creepy sound get to him.

That gave him an idea.

He quickly flipped his backpack around and unzipped it, searching for his cassette player and headphones. A Michael Jackson album was already in it, so he pulled the headphones over his ears, pressed play, cranked the volume, and drowned out his surroundings. No more creepy noises.

Once Zayn did reach the ladder to freedom, he didn’t think he’d ever felt so relieved in his life. He climbed up the rungs hastily and squinted once the sunlight hit his eyes because he wasn’t used to such intensity after being in darkness for so long. He took a deep breath of the fresh air as he marched through the field and towards Niall’s car. He pushed himself onto the hood dropped his backpack from his shoulders to let it rest next to him, then lay back on the windshield. Even though he promised he’d keep watch, he needed to close his eyes for at least a few minutes.

But a tap on his shoulder proved it was a few minutes too long. The sensation startled him, and he instinctively shot up.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” a soft, yet authoritative voice said next to him. Zayn could feel his stomach physically drop at the sight of Mayor Tomlinson.

“War- I mean, Mrs. Tomlinson. Hi,” Zayn greeted nervously. He hopped down from the hood and scratched the side of his head.

“I see you’re enjoying your Sunday afternoon,” she folded her arms in front of her and smiled, but it wasn’t warm. “Where’s Niall?”

“I don’t know,” Zayn said quickly. He was starting to realize how pointless it was in his being assigned to keep watch when no one thought to give him one of those walkie talkies. What did they expect him to do in a situation like this? Develop telepathic powers?

“Then why is his car here?” Eliza tilted her head as she adjusted her posture.

“He let me borrow it.”

Of course he didn’t. Niall would never let anyone borrow his car.

“Oh, you finally got your license?”

“Yes!”

The only time he ever even sat in the driver’s seat of a car was when he backed into the garage door when Louis and Liam convinced him that they could sneak out and take the car to a party across town. That earned him two weeks of grounding.

“Well then, congratulations! You should show me how the photo turned out on your card.”

“I can’t.”

Eliza narrowed her eyes, and Zayn was sure this was about to be all over.

“Why not?”

“I left it at home. Louis’ actually going to get it for me. That’s why I’m waiting here. Can’t drive without license,” he tapped his head to show his was being smart, then laughed nervously.

“ _Louis_ is getting it for you?”

Shit, _shit,_ SHIT. Wrong name, wrong _name_!

“Did I say Louis? I meant Harry. It’s so easy to get them confused. Their names end in the name sound, and they’re always together, you know?” He laughed again, but Eliza didn’t. There was no way she was falling for any of this. No fucking way.

“Zayn,” she took an intimidating step closer. “I need you to tell me where my son is.”

The smile dropped immediately from his face, then Zayn took a step back. “He’s at home, isn’t he? I thought he was grounded.”

“He is.”

“Then I’d assume he’s still there. I haven’t seen him all day. All weekend, actually. Not since last period on Friday.”

Louis was going to owe him approximately one thousand favors after this.

“Are you sure?” She knew he was lying. Zayn could see it in her eyes. But she couldn’t force any information out of him, no matter how hard she tried. He may have been lacking in courage, but if there was one thing Zayn was, it was loyal.

“I’m sure,” Zayn said firmly. For a few seconds it seemed they had engaged in a staring competition, but Eliza was the first to give in. Zayn wasn’t going to budge.

“So you think if I sent a few officers from the station down into that tunnel over there, I wouldn’t find anything?”

All at once, the colour drained from Zayn’s face. His eyes widened and he gulped. She got him.

“What tunnel?” Zayn said. No matter what his face was giving away, he couldn’t tell her the truth.

“You know what tunnel.”

“I really don’t,” he insisted.

She held her glare a moment longer, then turned back towards her car in frustration. It was parked directly behind Niall’s.

“I know what the five of you are up to,” she pointed a finger at him after opening the driver’s door. “And I’m going to prove it. I’ll have every one of those tunnel exits surrounded by police. A nice surprise when they decide to come back out, don’t you think?”

Eliza grinned slyly, slammed the door, and then started the engine. Zayn watched her as she drove off. His stomach fluttered with anxiety.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

~

Louis walked a few steps behind Harry as they made their way through the main hall of the prison. All his life, Louis thought it to be a general goal of his to not be inside the walls of a prison, but here he was.

He didn’t know what to expect, but based on movies Louis would’ve guessed one long walkway would be lined with metal bars enclosing each jail cell. But this building was so tiny it only had one floor, and each cell was separated into rooms instead of a long row of cages like they were holding animals. Some broken tables and chairs lined the empty wall underneath the bared off windows. Dust coated every surface in the building. That’s all it smelled like, too. It was almost too hard to breath. The basement Louis had to clean out came nowhere close to this. Harry told him to hold the collar of his shirt over his nose so he wouldn’t breathe anything in directly.

The sun was trying to peak through the windows, shining eerie lines of shadows around the room from the bars blocking it, but it wasn’t quite bright enough that they could turn their flashlights off. Not that Louis wanted to. This whole place was giving off a bit of a supernatural vibe and he really didn’t want to mess with any ghosts or demons today. He had to be home by five, and preferably as the only one in possession of his body.

“Is this considered breaking and entering?” Louis wondered out loud. As they slowly sauntered on he kept his voice down, as if he was going to wake up any spirits still hanging out. That guard might’ve still liked to hold his post in the afterlife.

“Little late to wonder that, isn’t it?” Harry pointed out.

“Where are we supposed to go anyway? To look for clues, I mean.” Now he was really feeling like he was in an episode of _Scooby Doo_.

“The file said the escaped prisoners stayed in cell number fourteen.” Harry had the fact memorized so he didn’t have to check the paper. “Yeah, just over there.” He aimed his flashlight at the cell in the darkest corner in the room, a faded number 14 painted on the chipped wall just above it.

Okay, Louis was really not liking this. Maybe cleaning out the basement would’ve been better than exploring this boarded off death trap. If only Harry wasn’t so damn persuasive. And Louis wasn’t so easily persuaded _by_ him.

Every cell was open, which Louis supposed made sense because there was nothing inside to lock up anymore. The entire prison truly looked abandoned, not just shut down. It was like everyone decided to up and leave one day, leaving behind every unimportant belonging. Old trays of food that were never cleaned up, a dropped stack of playing cards, blackened newspapers. There were even some empty beer cans and bottles, making them wonder if they weren’t the first people to find their way into the building without any kind of permission. Louis almost wished they could explore every cell, learning bits of information from the people who were once locked up in here.

Then again, it was still creepy as hell, and they really did not have the time.

Harry walked into the cell first, too unbothered by the whole situation. Louis followed in with more hesitance, going on his tip toes to peak his head over Harry’s shoulder. But it was just a cell. Realistically speaking, there was nothing scary at all about it. Surprisingly, the bunk beds still contained bedding, but the layer of dust was so thick you could barely tell it was there. Louis didn’t even want to know what kinds of bugs and tiny critters were living between that blanket and the mattress.

“This is disgusting,” Louis said in a voice that was both nasally and muffled since he was now pinching his nose closed under the collar blocking it.

“Are you kidding? This is so cool!” Harry beamed. He was shining his flashlight all over the cell, then quickly walked towards the seemly empty, and tiny, desk in the corner. Looked like they were going to have to search a lot deeper than they originally thought.

Louis first stepped towards the small toilet in the corner. He didn’t know why, considering it was easily the most revolting part of this entire cell. There was no water left in it, but the entire bowl was a brownish-blackish colour. He gagged as he took a step back from it.

“Didn’t leave much behind, did they?” Harry said, holding his flashlight up to the side of his head while he peaked underneath the desk.

“Well, the police did conduct an investigation. I know it was the 50s, but evidence is evidence.”

“We don’t know how thorough they were. Could’ve missed something in plain sight.”

“I guess,” Louis shrugged. He was tempted to pull back the blanket on the bottom bunk, but his mind wouldn’t let his hand do it. It was too smart.

“You’d think they would’ve left _something_ ,” Harry continued. Without warning, he stepped onto the bottom bunk so he could get a better look at the top. As soon as his foot stomped down, a cloud of dust jumped from the fabric beneath it. Louis backed away so he wouldn’t breathe it in.

“Jesus, Harry. You’re going to give us ODTS,” Louis said, the nasally voice making its return.

“O-T- _what_?” Harry gave him a strange look as he hopped back down, brushing his hands together then wiping them on the sides of his pants. As if that was enough to clean them.

“Organic dust toxic syndrome. It’s common in farmers and gives you flu-like symptoms and damage to your airways,” Louis explained dryly.

“And how the hell do you know that?”

“Listen, I’d be doing much better in school if my mind wasn’t clogged with useless information and had more room for, I don’t know, chemistry formulas,” Louis sighed dramatically, leaning back against the metal bars of the cell. The statement sounded funny in his head, but out loud it came off more self-deprecating.

“You do fine in school. At least you aren’t Liam,” Harry quipped, but Louis shook his head.

“You shouldn’t joke about that. He’s trying.”

“I know. And you’re right, but you know that guy’s got a lot of empty space up there.” Harry tapped the side of his head with his knuckle. “He’s got a good heart, though.”

“Yeah,” Louis agreed, mostly with the latter. “Sometimes that matters more.”

Moments of silence flooded in and Louis wasn’t sure what they should do. It seemed, at this point, that their expedition had reached its end. There was virtually nothing in this cell that could help them in the slightest. But he knew Harry would want to keep looking. If they had the time, he’d ransack this entire building. At the beginning Louis tried to warn him this might happen so he wouldn’t get his hopes up. Of course, ever the optimist, Harry wouldn’t listen.

“How come we aren’t as close as we used to be?” Harry asked out of the blue. The question took Louis off guard so much so that he shot a glare at Harry. He didn’t mean to, but he thought they were here to look for clues about escaped prisoners, not discuss the logistics of their friendship.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you almost every day for the last ten years,” Louis said flatly.

“That’s not what I mean. We never talk anymore. Sometimes I feel like I don’t even know what’s going on with you, or the things that happen in your life. Like, who’s the last girl you dated?”

Louis laughed, probably harder than he should have. “Julie. Eighth grade,” he said. He remembered going on two movie dates with Julie. On their first one they held hands, and on the second one they kissed in the back row. When he walked her home after, she told him he used too much tongue. He didn’t care because he already knew there wouldn’t be a third.

Harry folded his arms in confusion. Apparently Louis was just continuing to surprise him.

“What about that girl you made out with at Niall’s Halloween party last year?”

“I made out with her. You asked who I _dated_.”

“But don’t you see my point? I didn’t know the answers to either of those! You don’t tell me any-”

“Sure you did.”

“Huh?”

“You know the answers. Julie, because you convinced me to ask her out, and the girl from the Halloween party. You only assumed there was more that I wasn’t telling you.”

Louis knew exactly what Harry’s point was. He was just toying with him, and he knew Harry hated it. The truth was, Louis had been a little estranged from Harry. There _was_ more that he hadn’t been telling him. Not only Harry; all of his friends. But with Harry, it was different. He just couldn’t be honest with him. Not like he wished he could. What are you supposed to do when your best friend starts to take form in dreams you’d rather not repeat? Hell, if Louis knew. Sometimes he couldn’t even look Harry in the eye because he knew Harry would see right through him. No one knew Louis better than he did.

“Why are you doing this?” Harry said. He took a half step closer. Louis noticed, and he didn’t like it. That meant this was serious.

“What am I doing?”

“Avoiding my questions.”

“I answered your questions.”

“Not the important one. What’s been going on with you? Or us? You can tell me if something is wrong.”

In his mind Louis was going over the options in his head. _Make something up, tell him you’ve just been feeling moody_ , one voice told him. _Or you could tell him the truth_ , suggested another, _you have been crushing on him since you realized you would definitely rather kiss boys than have a girl’s tongue in your mouth in the back row at the movies._ But the problem wasn’t that he was having those thoughts; it was that they were about _Harry_.

Then again, Harry was his best friend. Right now, he was asking Louis to be open and honest with him. If he couldn’t tell him the whole truth, maybe he could tell him part of it. It could be nice to get it off his chest for once. Besides, he knew Harry wouldn’t care. He was his best friend.

“I think it’s just that…” Oh God, was he actually doing this? This was really not how he thought his day was going to go. “In the last few months, I’ve just been questioning a lot of things about myself and I thought--”

“You’re gay, aren’t you?” Harry interrupted, so quickly that Louis continued talking before he even registered what Harry said. He stopped, blinked a few times, and then tilted his head to the side.

“How did you know?” Louis asked, completely dumfounded, his mouth hanging open.

“I kind of knew for a while. You never had much of an interest in girls when we were younger. Even now, at eighteen, you still don’t, so I just figured…” Harry was leaning against the bar that connected the two bunks, shifting positions uncomfortably and keeping his eyes locked on his feet. Of course Harry was uncomfortable, Louis thought. How could he be anything but?

“What, did you and the guys debate it when I wasn’t around or something?” Louis accused bitterly, taking a step back.

“What? Lou, no. It wasn’t like that at all. I wouldn’t—I had a suspicion. I never told anyone.”

“Oh,” Louis softened his stance. Of course Harry wouldn’t talk about him like that. He knew him better than that.

“I think about what it would be like sometimes too, you know,” Harry said, offering Louis fleeting glances.

“To like,” Louis laughed, “ _kiss a guy_?” He didn’t know why he said it like the notion was ridiculous. Maybe he was trying to prove something to Harry, or to himself.

Harry shrugged. “Yeah, but one specifically.”

“Patrick Swayze?” Louis guessed, only half joking. He would’ve said Patrick Swayze, himself.

“No.” Harry was actually looking into his eyes this time. “You.”

Louis’ cheeks flared, causing his whole face to go red like a tomato. “Oh,” he said, but the word was barely audible because it was caught in his throat. His brain was on a loop of ‘holy shit holy shit holy shit’ over and over again.

“I’m not just saying that,” Harry assured. “I do. Even today.”

Today? He was thinking about kissing Louis _today_? Was it in his basement? While they were biking down their street? In Niall’s car? In the tunnels? More than once?!

Louis really didn’t know what to think right about now. This was a scenario that only ever played out in his head during the minutes before he fell asleep at night, but he never thought it would go like this in real life.

“Have you?” Harry asked.

Why did he have to be so God damn direct? Couldn’t he try to hide how he was feeling just once? Even for a few minutes, just so Louis could try to collect his thoughts?

“Have I what?” Louis didn’t know why he was playing dumb. Maybe he just wanted to hear Harry ask it again.

“Have you thought about kissing me?”

Louis’ heart leaped. He gulped.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to?”

It leaped again. Was this really happening? Did Louis still want this to happen? He played it up so much in his head, he knew it would never be the same. He also knew he’d be an idiot if he said no.

“In this cell?” Louis asked, squinting one eye. Harry laughed, which was good. Hearing his laughter relieved a bit of the tension.

“Why not?” Harry shrugged casually. “Would make a cool story.”

No it wouldn’t. Maybe between them, but Louis would never tell anybody. Not right now, at least. But Harry was stepping forward again. One step, then two, then three. Louis wasn’t backing up.

Then they were standing closer than they’d ever been. Absolutely no room for the Holy Ghost between them. Harry brought his hand up to the back of Louis’ neck. His fingers were cold, but still somehow gave off the feeling of warmth. Louis chose not to think about how Harry had been searching through this dirty prison cell with that same hand. They were leaning forward now, both of them. Louis could feel the tiny stream of Harry’s breath against his bottom lip. His eyes were closed and he was ready for it to happen, everything he was building up in his head to finally come to life.

And then the walkie talkie screamed its static, and they both jumped back in surprise.

“Harry, Louis, come in,” Niall’s muffled voice came from the spot on Harry’s belt loop. They both looked down at it, then met eyes again. Harry’s looked like they were apologizing. He pulled the walkie talkie from his hip and raised it to his mouth, pressing the button on the side.

“What’s going on, Niall?” Harry asked.

“I think we got the map backwards or something. Liam and I are at the train station.”

“It can’t be backwards because we’re in the second building. If we got it wrong, we would’ve ended up back at the car.”

They waited a moment for the reply, both staring at the walkie talkie. By now, Harry had retreated to where he was standing earlier.

“I don’t know what to tell you, man. We’re at the train station.”

“Maybe they marked it backwards,” Louis suggested before Harry pushed the button to reply. “The prisoners, I mean. That way if anyone found the map, they’d get confused as to where the tunnels lead.”

Harry watched him for a moment, thinking it over in his head, then the walkie talkie came alive again. “Do you want us to stay here?”

“No,” Harry said quickly. “Just head back to the entrance. We’ll meet you there soon.”

He clipped the walkie talkie back on his belt, then looked at the ground, scratching at his chin in thought.

“What now?” Louis asked. He didn’t know if he was referring to the search or what they were just in the middle of before they got interrupted.

“We never found anything,” Harry pointed out.

Louis nodded. “I know.” He could see the disappointment on Harry’s face. It was getting late now, and they wouldn’t have much time to continue. Maybe this really was one big waste of time.

Harry lifted his balled up fist and slammed it into the side of metal bars bunk in frustration, the cell shaking slightly from his strength. Immediately after, he grabbed his fist in his other hand in pain, then muttered, “Fuck,” under his breath.

Louis watched without saying anything, until something dropped from the ceiling and hit the top of his head, a cloud of dust pouring over him. He looked up to see where it came from as he tried to brush the dirt off, then down at the ground to see what it was.

A black leather bound book. A journal.

They both stared at in on the ground, then Harry watched as Louis slowly bent down to pick it up.

“Where was that?” Harry said in minor disbelief.

“In the pipes, maybe?” Louis looked up again at the intricate piping and rods above them. It looked like the previous ceiling had been ripped up to expose them. He held the book carefully in his hands. So much dust still sat on the cover that he didn’t even brush it off because he didn’t want it to get in the air. Slowly, he opened it up to a page partway through, revealing paragraphs of neat handwriting on yellowing paper. His eyes fervently scanned the words.

“Well, what does it say?” Harry asked impatiently. “Read it out loud!”

“This entry says it’s from May 24th, 1952,” Louis began, then cleared his throat.

_I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. I miss her every day. So far it has been 742 of them. It should have been zero. No one believes me, except my cell mate, but I’m not sure I can trust him. I hope she will believe me when I see her again._

“Who is ‘she’?” Harry wondered out loud.

“I have no idea,” Louis shook his head, flipping over the page. “This one is from a week later.”

_My cellmate’s name is George, but he says only I can call him that. He doesn’t want the others to know his real name. I believe he likes being feared. I could not fear him. No one in this prison knows him the way that I do._

_George says he’s going to get us out of here. He has men on the outside who have made a plan. I want to leave, but I am afraid. I have always been afraid between these three cement walls and the cage that labels me as more animal than human, but only of one thing. That I may never see her again._

“Man, this guy is deep,” Harry said, shaking his head. “If the other guy was George Hall, then that means this has to have been written by Walter H. Johnson. He was in here for arson.”

“What was George in for?”

“Smuggling,” Harry folded his arms while snorting a laugh. “No wonder he had connections on the outside.”

“Should I keep reading?”

Harry pinched his chin and nodded.

_June 15 th. Betty is eight years old now. I haven’t seen her since she was five. I wonder if she misses me. I wonder if she remembers what I look like, or the sound of my voice. She’d know the shape of my nose, though. And the curve of my eyes. She sees them every time she looks in the mirror. She doesn’t know where I am. I wonder if she knows I’m still alive._

“I think Betty is his daughter. Sounds like the ‘she’ he’s been referring to the whole time,” Louis pointed out. He kept flipping the pages to find more information, something that might be useful. Some words were too faded to read.

“So that’s why he wanted out so bad. To find his daughter.” Harry began pacing the room, the gears moving in his head as he tried to piece together the stories of these prisoners’ lives.

“Here, this is the last one he wrote. July 2nd.

_If all goes according to plan, this should be my last night here. George says the tunnels are ready. We are to leave just after midnight tonight. Next to Betty, I believe George is the best thing that has happened to me. I am not sure I will see him again after this, but I hope I do. If something goes wrong, I leave with these words. I am innocent._

_Betty, I love you. I love you I love you I love you.”_

Louis took a deep breath after reading those words. He looked up at Harry, who was rubbing his hands together in thought. This wasn’t just some wild mystery anymore. These were real people, Louis thought. Real people who were loved and had people whom they loved in return. He wondered if people could ever be more than the wrongs they’ve done.

“You think he ever saw her again?” Harry asked quietly.

“I hope so,” Louis answered. “Do you think he’s innocent?”

Harry raised his head, only to stare in front of him, then crossed one foot over the other. “He wrote those for himself, no one else. He wasn’t trying to convince anyone. Just speaking his truth. I’d like to think so, anyway.”

“Me too.”

The book contained so much more that Louis wanted to read. He wondered if he should, or if this was too much of an invasion of privacy. But if Walter wasn’t alive, maybe this was all that would be left of his memory. The good parts, at least.

He flipped through the empty pages, then stopped. Folded against the spine in between two of them was a small envelope, still sealed. He pulled it out to read the front.

“This is a letter addressed to Betty Johnson,” Louis said, flashing the front so Harry could see. He quickly stepped closer to get a better look for himself.

“Brightrock,” Harry read from the address. “That’s only two towns over. You think she still lives there?”

“I have no idea.” Louis sighed, then tucked it back into its rightful spot. He closed the book altogether before looking up at Harry. “We should probably head back. Niall and Liam will be waiting for us.”

“You’re right,” Harry agreed, then gestured his flashlight-occupied hand towards the cell door. “After you.”

Louis didn’t take too much time to think about everything that just happened in that cell. At the moment, it was far too much his brain to comprehend. From Harry’s lips being just inches from his to everything they found out through the discovery of Walter H. Johnson’s journal. He decided the journal was more important for now. That’s what they were here for. But he wondered if he’d ever get the chance to be that close to Harry again.

They decided to jog back to the crossroads of the tunnel, knowing walking back would only waste time that they didn’t have. Louis kept the journal tucked tight under his arm. He wanted to read more, but he’d wait until he was at home tonight, when he could sit at his desk under the light of his lamp and discover all the secrets of Walter H. Johnson, and what he’d revealed about George Hall. Perhaps the mysteries of these prisoners didn’t have to end just because today would.

Liam and Niall were sitting on the ground with their backs against the walls across from each other when the other two arrived. They stood up once Harry and Louis approached them, immediately pressing for questions about what they uncovered in the second building. While there wasn’t a ton to tell, they explained what they did discover from the journal they had found. Louis showed them a few pages from it that had the most important information.

“So he went searching for his daughter,” Niall confirmed. He was holding the book in his hands, Liam peering over his shoulder.

“That’s what we think, yeah,” Harry nodded.

“But there was nothing about whether they made it out?” asked Liam. Niall looked at him with a furrowed brow like Liam was crazy. “What?”

“Why would there be evidence of whether they made it out in the jail cell they escaped from?”

Liam widened his eyes and shook his head. “Well I don’t know, Niall, maybe they went back later because they forgot a few things.”

No one could tell if Liam was joking or not, so Niall just scoffed and shook his head.

“You guys didn’t find anything at the train station?” Louis wondered, partly to change the subject.

“Nothing. If there was anything there, the cops probably cleared it out better since the public has access to it,” Niall said, looking between Louis and Harry.

Just then, the sound of pounding footsteps echoed through the tunnel like someone was running through it. The echo came from around the curve where they had first entered. All four of them whipped their heads around and shined their flashlights towards the noise. Louis could feel his heart pounding faster.

“Should we run the other way?” Harry said, only loud enough so the other three could hear.

“Hold on,” Liam said, holding up a finger. “Zayn?!” he called out. In a panic, Louis slapped his hand over Liam’s mouth while the others shushed him and shoved him behind the group. Niall grabbed him, making sure to ask “What the fuck is wrong with you? What if it’s someone after us for being down here?” while Liam struggled away.

“Wait, you guys, look!” Harry pointed ahead.

 Running towards them at full speed, just as Liam predicted, was Zayn. His face was written with worry, but what else was new? By the time he reached them, he was completely out of breath. Niall sheepishly let Liam go, but didn’t bother saying anything, or even looking him in the eye.

“What are you doing back down here?” Louis asked him.

“The Warden.” _Wheeze. “_ Police.” _Wheeze_. “They know we’re down here.” _Wheeze._ “They know where all the tunnels lead.” _Wheeze._ “She has cops waiting at every exit. We gotta find another way out!”

Harry grabbed Zayn by the shoulders, just as he was finally getting his breathing back to normal. Harry lowered his neck to look Zayn in the eye. “How do they know? Did you talk to anyone?”

“I talked to the Warden. She didn’t tell me anything, but she already knew everything. She could’ve just been shooting in the dark with accusations, but they were all right.” He turned his head to give Louis a look of pity. “Sorry, man. I tried.”

“You don’t think she’d actually have any of us arrested, do you?” Harry’s eyes wandered around at the group as he stepped back from Zayn.

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Niall said, folding his arms. “We _are_ trespassing. There’s a sign outside the abandoned prison that has a fine warning for trespassing.”

“Yeah, and one of us already has a record,” Liam mentioned, looking directly at Niall.

“Hey, I’m the reason none of you do! You all got away only because I tripped while we were running from that house party last year.”

“Then you blew a point-one-three in the breathalyzer,” Liam mumbled passively.

“God forbid, I got drunk while underage. You would’ve blown higher.”

“We’re getting off track here!” Louis exclaimed in annoyance. “So they’re waiting for us to come out?” he turned to only Zayn.

“That’s what the Warden said.”

Everyone was staring at Louis now. He was the only one who could really make the decision at this point. It was his mom doing all of this, and it was his ass on the line if they got caught. Whether they went back and turned themselves in or tried to find another way out, it was up to him. With the idea of an arrest lingering around his mind, Louis felt the pressure weighing down on his shoulders. So he walked over to one side of the tunnel, leaned his back against the wall, and slid down it until he was sitting.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked him.

“We’ll wait them out,” he said simply. “If they want us out of here so bad, they can come get us. If not, they can’t wait forever,” Louis shrugged with his mouth pressed into a thin line.

The others exchanged looks of worry and confusion, but soon they were all sat down in a sort-of circle. Harry sat in the middle of the walkway with his legs crossed, Niall and Liam were next to each other opposite Louis, and Zayn sat across from Harry, hugging his knees to his chest. For a long time they were quiet. Just waiting.

“What do we do if they come down here?” Liam asked to break the silence.

“We go with them.”

“What if they arrest us?” Zayn looked up, far more concerned than the others.

“Then they arrest us,” Louis said flatly. He didn’t know what part of this they weren’t understanding. This was the closest they could get to fighting back.

“Louis, are you sure you want to do this?” Niall looked at him earnestly. “Maybe just a couple of us can go out and distract them and you can get out some other way.”

“Why should you guys get in trouble and not me?” Louis turned to the group. “We’re all equally guilty. We’re in this together, aren’t we?”

“We are,” Harry said, looking only at Louis. “I vote we stay.”

No one protested, so Niall said on everyone’s behalf, “Alright. I guess we’ll stay.”

~

Eliza returned to the entrance of the tunnels with the sheriff’s car on her tail. She marched out of hers in a huff, slamming her door shut behind her. The sheriff and deputy joined her.

“Have the officers arrived at the other exits?” she asked the sheriff pointedly as they walked across the grassy field. Eliza had nearly every cop in Luna Hills on the case. To be fair, it wasn’t like they had much else to do.

“Yeah, I sent a few guys to them,” the sheriff mumbled, picking something out of his teeth. The man’s forehead looked like the bottom of a shoe and his retirement party started being planned about ten years ago.

“Good. When they come out I want all of those boys detained,” she said angrily, not even looking at the sheriff as he meandered behind her. “Since there’s only two of you I want you to arrest Niall and Harry first. They’ll be the most difficult.”

“Now, Eliza, I-”

“Liam and Zayn will be easier to track down and the only place Louis has to go is back home. I’ll put this town on lockdown if I have to.”

“You know, we don’t typically arrest kids for trespassing. We usually just send ‘em home to their parents with a small fine.”

“Sometimes not even that,” the deputy added. She was much younger and a new addition to the force, but very eager.

Eliza turned abruptly on her heel and folded her arms. “They are trespassing on government owned property and putting themselves in extreme danger. They should be sentenced to community service at the very least.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on them?” said the deputy quietly. Eliza shot her a glare.

“She’s gotta point,” the sheriff pointed a thumb at her. “They’re – what – seventeen? Eighteen years old? They’re just being kids.”

Eliza took a long a deep breath and held it in for a moment. She then dropped her hands and turned around to continue on. “I want them out of there!” she demanded.

“She always like this?” the deputy mumbled in the sheriff’s ear.

“Don’t think so,” the sheriff said. “But if she doesn’t run in the next election, I think she might be after my job.”

~

Louis dropped his head against the brick wall behind him. He had one foot stretched out, which Harry was untying and retying the shoelaces on. Those red converse were covered in a thick layer of dirt at this point. Of the five of them, none had said a word in the last five minutes since they sat down. Eventually, Niall spoke up.

“You think they towed my car?”

Of course that would be the number one thing on his mind.

“Nah,” Harry shook his head. “They probably want to use it as bait.”

“What about your bikes?” Liam said, his head shooting up in concern. “Your bikes are both at my house. They’ll know we’re all together.” He was looking between Harry and Louis.

“Who cares?” Louis said in defeat. “They already know we’re down here.”

“You should’ve stayed above ground,” Niall said, looking at Zayn. “No car, no bike – you would never have been caught.”

Zayn kept staring at the ground, then shrugged. “I had to warn you guys.”

“We appreciate that, man,” Liam reached out and patted Zayn on the back, who offered a tight lipped smile in return.

“Now that I think about it,” Niall said, scratching at his chin, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you on a bike.”

“Actually, that’s true,” Harry waved a finger a Niall while looking at Zayn. “Do you not own one?”

“I swear I’ve seen him ride one at least once,” Liam piped up.

Louis lifted his head to look at Zayn, who was diverting his eyes and uncomfortably scratching the back of his head. That was Zayn’s habit when he was getting stressed. Louis leaned forward, pulling his foot back in and forgetting that Harry was still playing with the shoelaces.

“Guys,” Louis said to get their attention, then shook his head once they were all looking at him. “Let’s talk about something else.”

Niall looked like he wasn’t finished yet when he kept talking. “But wait, I thought that-”

“I can’t ride a bike.”

Everyone looked at Zayn, who was now staring at the roof of the tunnel as he took a dramatically deep breath. A little too dramatic. “I never learned,” he continued. “My dad tried to teach me when I was a kid, but I was too scared and never learned.”

The other four exchanged glances, no one knowing what to say. It really didn’t seem to be worth the build-up, but Zayn was treating this like he’d just admitted his darkest secret. Niall coughed almost like he was laughing, so Liam nudged him in the ribs, which earned a scowl in response. Finally, Harry muttered, “Not everyone can ride a bike.”

“Yeah,” Louis added. “It’s not a big deal, man.”

Zayn started shaking his head. “It’s dumb. I’m eighteen years old and can’t even ride a Goddamn bike.”

He looked genuinely upset, like maybe this was about more than a bike, but Louis didn’t prod.

“I could teach you,” Niall said, turning the attention to him. Zayn raised his eyebrows.

“That’s a good idea!” Harry said, trying to be encouraging.

“If you want, I mean. We’ll do it at night, or something, if you don’t want anyone to see.”

Zayn laughed at the last comment, then stopped to glance at Niall. “Yeah? Okay, yeah. Thanks, Niall.”

For a moment everything felt nice, even calm. A sharp contrast to the tension that previously surrounded them. Even Louis was smiling at the gesture, which was surprising since his mother was about to ruin his life as soon as he got out of this tunnel.

“I’m not going to graduate,” Liam blurted, and the atmosphere shifted again. He held his breath after saying it, earning confused looks all around.

“You’re dropping out?” Louis clarified.

“No,” Liam shook his head. “I’m flunking out. Of history, algebra, and I’m barely passing English. I’ll have to repeat my senior year if I want my diploma.”

“Are you going to?” asked Harry.

Liam shrugged. “I don’t know.”

It was quiet again.

“If I go back, who knows if I’ll be able to pass these classes next year? If I don’t, then at least I could get a job and maybe do something useful for once.”

“I could tutor you,” Zayn quickly offered, but Liam was already shaking his head.

“You’re going to college next year. Even if you weren’t I’m not even sure how teachable I am. I’ve never been any good in school; you guys know that.”

“Sure you’re teachable. Having trouble finding the square root of ‘x’ or memorizing some dates for a history class doesn’t mean shit,” Louis tried to tell him. “And you said it’s only two classes that you’re failing, right? Maybe you could get some extra help for them. Like from a hired tutor.”

“Look, you guys don’t have to worry about me. I’ll figure it all out, okay?” Liam sighed. “I just thought you guys should know. They’re still gonna let me walk the stage though. At least we’ll sort-of graduate together, right?”

“You still throwing that party after the ceremony?” Harry asked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Liam breathed a laugh from his nose. “Obviously.”

“Well,” Niall coughed to clear his throat, “Since we’re all confessing, I guess I got something too. My parents are getting divorced. Selling the house, too.”

“Sorry to hear that, man,” Harry said, touching his shoulder in support.

“My dad is moving to Milwaukee for work. My mom is moving to Denver to be closer to our family and me in college, I guess.”

“Colorado?!” Zayn exclaimed.

Niall nodded. “I’ve never lived anywhere other than Luna Hills. I don’t even know when I’d come back.”

“Milwaukee is close,” Liam reasoned. “You’ll have to visit your dad at some point, right?”

“It’s still not Luna Hills. I’m just gonna miss you guys, you know? Ah, this dumb; I’m turning into a sap,” Niall laughed and wiped something from his eye, then breathed in sharply through his nose.

“When are they moving?” asked Zayn.

“Same week I leave for college.”

“Then we have the whole summer! That’s over two months still. Plenty of time!” Louis threw his hands up in excitement because someone had to try to cheer everyone up, even it was mostly an act.

“How optimistic of you,” Niall joked. He let a tear escape, but was quick to wipe it away too. Louis tried not to look at him because if he did, he was pretty sure he was going to start crying next. Leaving for college was hard enough without knowing some of your friends might not be there when you get back.

“Alright, enough of this. What do you two have?” Niall waved a finger between Harry and Louis. “We all confessed something so one of you guys need to take a turn.”

Louis looked directly at Harry, hoping he had something to say. The only thing Louis could think of he wasn’t sure he was ready to admit just yet.

He wondered if any of these guys would care about his secret. Clearly Harry didn’t, but the others… They were his friends though, right? If they really cared about him, then it’s not like this would make any difference. Maybe it would be nice if they all knew. He wouldn’t have this secret eating away at him.

No, he was thinking crazy. Now really wasn’t the time. He’d wait until he had more to tell, like a relationship or at least once he had some sort of experience. Not that he wasn’t sure of who he was. He was more than sure. Now more than ever.

Telling them was either a brilliant idea, or completely stupid and reckless. Then again, so was everything else he’d done today.

“I don’t know…” Harry trailed off, looking to Louis. “You got anything, Lou?”

Louis turned to the group and, before he could stop himself, announced, “Well, I’m gay.”

What followed was a stunned silence. Well, _mildly_ stunned. Less about the subject and more Louis’ ease of the confession. He first glanced at Harry who had his eyebrows raised even though he had to have been the least surprised of the group, considering Louis had just told him the same thing less than an hour ago.

Louis looked around, waiting for someone to say something. It’s not like he needed to elaborate.

“Uh,” Liam said first. “Cool. Wait, that came out wrong. Not “cool”, but like- Wait, that’s not what I meant either. It’s great that you- Wait…”

“Wow, Liam, that’s a really long way to say “Thanks for telling us!”” Niall rolled his eyes, then looked at Louis more sincerely. “Really, man. Doesn’t matter who you like. We’re cool with it.”

 “We’re going to support you no matter what.” Zayn added with a smile.

“What they said,” Liam mumbled in defeat, which made Louis laugh. He didn’t realize how red his cheeks had gotten until he tried to move them. His heart was in his stomach, but hearing all of this made it so full.

Harry patted Louis’ knee, which got his attention right away. “I’m proud of you,” he said quietly with a warm grin. He just wanted to drive Louis crazy, didn’t he?

“Well, Harry,” Zayn said, interrupting the little moment the two of them were in the middle of. “That just leaves you. What’s your secret?”

“I dunno. I always thought I was a pretty open book.”

Louis really hoped he wasn’t going to say what Harry had told him back in that prison cell. Call him selfish, but Louis wanted that moment for them. Did their friends really need to know?

“You can’t leave here knowing all this stuff about us when you haven’t told us anything about you,” Niall said. “You gotta have something you haven’t told people.”

“Do I?” Harry leaned back on his hands in thought. “Hm. How about this? I think I finally figured out what I’m going to do instead of college.”

Zayn widened his eyes. “You’re not going to college?”

“I was thinking I’d head off and join the circus instead. Balancing on those tight ropes can’t be too hard. Plus, I’d look great in spandex, don’t you think?” He nudged Liam who was rolling his eyes.

“Okay, fuck off,” Niall said in annoyance, but Harry had gotten all the guys laughing. It almost made them forget where they actually were: in a tunnel fifteen feet underground, sitting on the dirty floor and waiting out their probable arrest. Almost.

As Louis sat there, listening to his friends bicker and be sad, and then be happy and reminisce, he thought about if he regretted today. His first thought would be yes, of course he would regret doing something that would get him in so much trouble. The day started with the aftermath of his last scheme. But hearing the laughter of his friends, finding that journal in the cell that might hold every secret they wanted to know about this place, and seeing the look on Harry’s face when Louis confessed one of his biggest secrets to the people he trusted most, he couldn’t imagine taking the day back. He almost wished he had a camera with him to capture the memory, but he wasn’t sure if this feeling could be replicated in a photograph. It was so unique you might’ve just had to be there to feel it.

When Zayn asked, Louis let him take a peek inside the journal of Walter H. Johnson. He read a few of the entries out loud; some the same that Louis had read out to Harry back in the cell. There were more about his cell mate, George Hall, then Louis even realized. Ones that gave off some interesting theories about the dynamic between them.

“So they ran away together,” Niall summarized after a particularly brow-raising entry. “I think it’s pretty obvious what was going on in that cell.”

“I don’t think so,” Zayn said, scanning the words again. “Seems like they were close because they had to keep the same secret about those extra tunnels being built.”

“Are you sure about that?” Louis side-eyed him.

“He’s right,” Liam gestured towards Louis. “I mean, he of all people should know.” According to Niall, that comment was worthy of a swift elbow to the ribs. “What? Can I not say that?” he asked defensively. Someone really needed to separate those two, Louis thought. They’d both be waking up tomorrow with bruises.

“Really?” Niall shook his head in disbelief. Louis turned his head when he heard a snort from Harry, who was trying to muffle his laughter.

“What do you think was going on between them?” Louis asked him.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they were fucking,” Harry said firmly.

“See!” Niall exclaimed to Zayn. “Based on those journal entries, it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“Who knows?” Harry said. “Maybe they actually made it out and they’re living together in a tiny igloo in Canada.”

Zayn scoffed. “Would that be better than prison?”

Harry looked mildly offended. “What’s wrong with Canada?”

“It’s not the country; it’s the snow.”

“Wait, I just thought of something!” Liam suddenly exclaimed in excitement. So much excitement, in fact, that he stood right up and leaped to the tunnel behind Louis, who scooted out of the way to make room. “This is the tunnel we never explored, right? What if we escaped out this one?”

“They know where every tunnel leads to. They have a copy of the map,” Zayn explained.

“But the map was wrong,” Liam said, looking to the whole group. “This one was supposed to lead to the train station, but the other one did. This one never gave an exact location. There’s no way they can know where it leads.”

“Maybe they have a different copy,” Niall suggested. “Or other records of it. I’m sure they found out where it lead during the investigation.”

Liam looked to Louis and Harry. “You guys saw the file. Did it ever say?”

The two of them exchanged glances, then shook their heads. If there was another location somewhere on there, they would’ve remembered. Harry read the whole thing at least three times.

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it? Might as well try to get away instead of waiting for them to come down here and march us out with our hands cuffed behind our backs. Don’t you think?”

Instead of agreeing or voicing their own opinions, everyone looked at Louis. This was his idea, he supposed. The whole ‘waiting around in surrender’ thing. But Liam had a point. This was their only chance to still get away with this whole thing without getting in trouble. The worst case scenario was that there were cops waiting for them on the other side, which really wasn’t much worse than their best case scenario if they waited it out down here.

Louis stood up slowly and brushed himself off. “Well,” he began, swiping the dirt from his hands. “I’m up for it if you guys are.”

“Me too,” Harry said.

“Me three,” Zayn said.

“I guess,” Niall agreed.

“Alright Liam,” Louis said while the others joined in standing up as well. “Lead the way.”

Without knowing how long this next journey would be, the four of them followed Liam through the crawlspace of an opening. Louis was right behind him, followed by Niall, Zayn, and then Harry. It was good that Harry took the rear so he could stop Zayn from turning around if he got too freaked out. Then again, he had ran all the way down here just so he could warn them all. Maybe he had more courage than they were giving him credit for.

Louis hadn’t been in either of the extended tunnels yet, but this was cold and dry and quite stuffy, if he was being honest. Looking ahead, it seemed never ending. Even more so than the brick lined tunnel between the two prisons. Nothing but hard dirt surrounded them, and they all had to hunch their backs as they walked. Liam warned them that they’d eventually have to crawl if this tunnel was anything like the other. At this rate, Louis knew he’d be coughing up dirt for the next week.

“How much farther do you think it is?” Zayn asked the group. They had to walk in a single file line, so their shadows danced around the tunnels from each person’s flashlight that was pointed straight ahead.

“No idea,” Liam said. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re kind of wingin’ it here.”

“I know what we can do to pass the time!” Harry announced in surprisingly gleeful spirits. “Anyone seen _Stand by Me_?”

“You dragged me to the theatre to see it three times,” Louis said.

“And me twice,” Liam added.

“Well then, I’m sure you’ll all remember this classic hit.” Harry cleared his throat, then began sing-shouting the words of the _Ballad of Paladin._

_“Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man_

_A knight without armor in a savage land…”_

“Noooo,” Niall groaned, covering his ears. Unsurprisingly, Zayn joined in on the next verse. He was probably the only one happily willing to go with him to all five of those showings of the movie. Harry grinned in surprise.

_“His fast gun for hire, heeds the calling wind_

_A soldier of fortune is a man called…”_

To Louis’ own surprise, he found himself remembering the words. And if he didn’t sing along he’d be living out the rest of the day with a pesky earworm that would not be easily treated. Just like Zayn, except with a roll of his eyes, he ended up giving in.

 _“Pal-a-din,”_ Louis sang with the others, far lower than his voice could actually go. His participation even got Liam included. Everyone but Niall seemed to be enjoying themselves at this point.

“Sometimes being around you four gives me a headache,” Niall said bitterly.

“ _Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam_

_Paladin, Paladin, far, far from home...”_

They faded out awkwardly after the last word. “Anyone know the rest of the lyrics?” Liam asked what everyone was thinking.

“That’s the only part that was in the movie,” Harry admitted.

“From the top, then!” Zayn cheered, making Louis wonder if this had turned more into a game just to piss Niall off. Either way, he was all for it.

“ _Have gun will travel, reads the card of a man_

_A knight without armor in a savage land...”_

All of the sudden a loud bang echoed through the tunnel, accompanied by a brief shake and dirt falling from above them. Everyone froze in their tracks. Louis and Liam turned to the others, a look of panic stricken across all of their faces.

“What was that?” Zayn asked the obvious.

“Maybe it was an Earthquake,” suggested Liam, earning strange looks all around.

“There aren’t any Earthquakes in Wisconsin,” Louis pointed out.

“And even if there were, that would probably be the worst case scenario,” Niall added, because pointing out every wrong thing Liam said seemed to be his full time job.

“I think the ground is just too weak to hold five people after being dug up,” Zayn said, giving the most logical theory. Didn’t make the situation any less terrifying.

The banning echoed again, this time dropping a layer of dirt that covered them like a thin blanket. The tunnel wouldn’t stop shaking. They grabbed onto each other for support.

“We don’t have the time to debate this!” Harry shouted over the noise. “Just RUN!”

Feet stomping across the dirt, the five of them scrambled the rest of the way down the tunnel. Flashlights spun wildly as they swung their arms back and forth, chests pounding as they sprinted, possibly for their lives. Dirt kept falling in heavier clumps, making it even harder to breathe and see.

They didn’t know why they kept moving forward. For all they knew, they weren’t even close to the exit. Then again, the whole system of tunnels could be closing in. If they tried to go back, they could be met with another wall of dirt on the other side.

For a split second Louis wished they didn’t try to escape. Maybe this was karma for trying to run from the Warden. She and the cops could be the ones doing this to begin with. Okay, that was ridiculous. The Warden may have been a hard ass, but she wouldn’t practically kill them to prove a point. But Louis really didn’t have time to be going through the possibilities in his head. He looked briefly over his shoulder. Behind them, the dirt was piling up and closing them into the already cramped space, barely a foot behind Harry. Louis made eye contact with him, his heart sinking at the look of fear in his eyes. But they were all moving fast with determination, especially Harry.

This was a matter of life or death now. They had to get out before they were buried alive.

Suddenly, ahead of them, there looked to be an opening the shape of a perfect circle. No one cared where it lead as long as it was a way out. The wall of dirt was getting closer and closer and they couldn’t run much faster. One by one they crossed through the opening, not expecting to lose the ground as soon as they were on the other side. Louis closed his eyes as soon as he felt himself falling through the air, and then all his senses dulled.

The water completely enveloped him in a splash. At least, it felt like water. He tried to hold his breath, but he could feel a gulp of liquid snort right into his lungs. Louis began swimming up, hoping the direction he was headed in actually was up. He tried to open his eyes, but all he could see around him was a foggy brown haze of water.

Eventually, he felt the sensation of air on his face as his body broke through the surface. Louis took the biggest gulp of air that could fill his lungs, then began coughing to get the water out of them. Wiping what felt like sludge away from his face, Louis opened his eyes. Thank God he counted four other bodies around him, all treading water and coughing just the same.

“Are we in a sewer?!” Niall shouted, his voice bouncing off the walls. “The mystery tunnel lead to a fucking _sewer_!”

“Does that mean…? Is this…?” Liam stuttered in disbelief.

“We’re swimming in shit, aren’t we?” Zayn cried. To be fair, the horrified shock was completely valid. Louis was so disgusted he wasn’t sure he could move, even though moving was the only way to get out of this vile pool. He had to force himself not to think about it so he wouldn’t be sick.

Louis jumped when he felt a hand grab his arm, but was relieved when he turned to see Harry’s head bobbing next to him. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. Are you?” Louis asked in return, glad to see Harry nod his head in response.

He pulled Louis’ arm with him. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

A metal sign next to a ladder across the way read ‘5th Street’ which was an alleyway next to the library. Louis remembered his mom talking about the complaints of a broken manhole cover, which meant that would likely be the easiest way out. And if they were lucky, no one would be around while they tried to get out. He directed them all to swim towards it.

“I can feel it in every layer of my clothes,” Niall complained loud enough to ensure everyone could hear. “I’m going to have to throw all of these out.”

“Would you rather be swimming in shit or buried alive in that tunnel?” Louis shouted back at him.

“You tell ‘im,” Liam said. Niall would glare, but he did have a point. At least this would wash off. It might take a few showers, but it would.

The smell was so horrible it was almost intolerable, but their noses were becoming immune after being completely submerged. Louis didn’t want to think about how he might be covered in the shit of the residents of Luna Hills. His mind was a lot more at peace if he just tried to convince himself it was mud.

They each climbed the ladder one by one, Harry and Niall going first so they could get the manhole cover off. Since it was in two pieces, it was much lighter to lift off one at a time. Once his feet had stepped onto the street of that alleyway, Louis had never been so glad to be above ground. He squinted from the brightness of the sunlight having been so used to the darkness of the tunnels. Louis looked down at his feet. His red converse were completely ruined.

It was time to go home.

Before deciding on their next course of action, the group ran to the shallow river behind the library to rinse off. It wouldn’t get rid of the smell, but at least it would make them feel slightly better before they could make it to a hot shower. The water was just as cold, if not colder, on Louis’ skin. He tried to scrub, but there was really no point. This was a smell that lingered.

“So what now?” Zayn wondered as he rung his shirt out into the water, then tried to rinse off as much residue as he could from his glasses.

“I need to get my car,” Niall said. “The cops are probably still hanging around it. They’ll be waiting for me.” He already took off his shirt and threw it off to the side. If it wasn’t for the fact that it might be evidence, he would be fine never picking it up again.

Liam lifted his head as he tried to ring out his own shirt. His face lit up. “I have an idea,” he looked at Zayn first. “You go right home. You’re already in the clear, but just make sure no one sees you until you get there.” Next, Liam looked at Harry and Louis. Harry was running his hands through his hair again and again, trying to get everything out. “You two go back to my house. My parents aren’t home so you can use the key under the front mat to get in and shower. Then get on your bikes and get Louis back home. You guys need to leave first. As soon as they know we’re back, the Warden is going to head straight home to make sure you’re there,” he looked right at Louis, who nodded. He didn’t know when this sudden leadership overtook Liam, but his plan might just be easy enough to work.

“And my car?” Niall asked pointedly.

“Take your pants off,” Liam instructed.

Niall raised his eyebrows and blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You and I will head back to the car. If anyone asks, we went for a run then decided to cool off in the river.”

“You want me to tell a bunch of cops and the mayor that I went for a run in jeans, then I went for a swim in my underwear with _you_?” Niall looked more than taken aback, but also desperate enough that he might actually do it.

“I mean, we were technically running around all day, and then sort of went for a swim,” Zayn pointed out. “It’s not a total lie.”

Niall sighed and rubbed his forehead. What else did he have to lose? He spent the day searching through underground tunnels, running from the police, and now he was washing possible shit from a sewer off of himself in a river. The day couldn’t really get much worse.

He took a deep breath. “Fine. Let’s go.”

They decided Louis and Harry should get a head start so they would have enough time to shower before going home. Zayn left at the same time, but in the opposite direction.

“I’d say thanks for the adventure, but I don’t know if I want to thank you for it yet,” Zayn said, just before stepping back. “Niall, can you drop my backpack off later? I left it in your car.”

“Sure,” Niall said, reaching a hand towards him for the group’s handshake: two high fives and a fist bump.

As he turned away, Zayn said while almost laughing, “I’ll see you guys on Monday.”

That left the four of them, so Harry turned to Louis. “Alright, Dorothy, tap those slippers together. It’s time to get you home.”

Niall and Liam waited around a few more minutes before they were off too. Since Harry and Louis were running, they figured slowing their own pace would give the other two enough time. Liam’s house was closer to them than the school was, anyway.

At first they were relatively quiet, then Niall said, “Are you really not graduating?”

“I don’t need your opinion about it. My dad is already pissed enough,” Liam said coldly in annoyance, looking at his feet.

Niall paused. “Did you think I was going to make fun of you?”

“Isn’t that what you always do?”

Niall closed his eyes and shook his head, almost like he was hurt. “I wouldn’t do that, man. Not about this. When I say bullshit like that, I don’t mean anything by it. It’s just jokes. You’re, like, my best friend. Isn’t that what best friends do? Be assholes to each other?”

“What about when you abandoned me at school on Friday? That was real hilarious,” Liam scoffed bitterly.

“That was just me being a real asshole, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It was. I mean, it wasn’t that far of a walk, but-”

“I’m really sorry,” Niall interrupted. Liam didn’t even care that he did it because he didn’t think he’d ever heard Niall apologize to anyone before.

“Are you?”

“Yeah, I am. In a few months, who knows how often we’ll actually get to see each other anymore? I guess today might’ve put that into perspective. I’m gonna miss you guys a lot. I love you assholes, you know.”

Liam laughed, lightly hitting Niall in the arm. Half-jokingly, and half to even out their score for all those elbows to the ribs today. “I love you too, man. And sorry about your parents. That must really suck to go through.”

“Thanks, but I think it’ll be okay. They’ll be happier in the long run, I’m sure.” Niall paused, then gave Liam a stern look. “If you tell anyone I got sappy with you though, you’re not gonna wanna see me again.”

Niall let the threat hang for a second just to see the stunned look on Liam’s face, then started cracking himself up. “Dick,” Liam said, hitting him again. Now Liam might actually be in the lead.

“Race you back to the school?” Niall suggested.

“You’re on.”

As they rounded the corner towards that empty field next to the school, the pair saw exactly the sight they were expecting. Niall’s car, a cop car, and the Warden, quick to notice their arrival. They jogged right up to Niall’s car, knowing they were going to have to play dumb in pretending they didn’t know why everyone was there. Niall pulled his keys from his drenched pants and started to unlock the doors, but now the Warden was running towards them.

“What are you doing here?” she shouted. “How did you get here? Arrest them!” she said, turning to the two cops behind her who were much less excited about the revelation of their arrival.

“We went for a jog, then a swim to cool off,” Liam repeated the lie just as he had earlier.

The Warden crossed her arms, noting the clothes they were holding. “In jeans? Oh – what is that smell?” she scrunched up her nose and waved a hand in front of her face.

Niall ignored the second comment since they hadn’t prepared a lie for the sewage issue. “It’s all the pants we own. Not everyone can afford fancy pantsuits,” he said, then looked at Liam, hoping he wouldn’t laugh and break their cover.

“Arrest them,” the Warden said again. So maybe Niall’s joke didn’t go over well. Oops.

“Uh, actually, we can’t,” the Sheriff said, adjusting the belt around his round belly.

The warden turned around slowly and narrowed her eyes at him. “Why not?”

“Well, we don’t have any proof that they were down there,” the deputy pointed out.

“And frankly, Liz, I don’t care much anymore. Let dumb kids be dumb kids. If it really bothers you that much then block off all those tunnels.”

“But-”

“I think we’re done here,” he said, then turned to the deputy. “It’s time for a coffee break, wouldn’t you say? You boys go home and dry off. Have a good evening, Liz,” he waved, and then they were walking back towards their patrol car, the sheriff mumbling something into his radio before they drove off.

The Warden looked puzzled and almost helpless. Niall and Liam exchanged glances, and a mutual feeling of relief between them, then turned back towards her.

“Where’s Louis?” the Warden asked sternly.

“I’m sure he’s home safe,” Liam said, which wasn’t a complete lie either, then climbed into the passenger seat.

Before doing the same, Niall grinned. “See you around, Mayor Tomlinson.” Then he turned on the engine and sped away.

~

Louis had enough of running. Running for his life, running through the streets covered in sewage, and now running – actually, pedaling – home just to make it there before the Warden – er, his mother – got home. He wasn’t even sure he’d make it. Did Liam and Niall give them enough time? Did the Warden give up early and head home, knowing she could just punish him from there? Maybe he shouldn’t even go there. Harry would let him crash at his house as long as he needed, but that was only next door. Canada wasn’t too far away…

Okay, he was being ridiculous. At this point, he’d just have to suck it up and take any consequence his mother had prepared for him. There’s no way he was getting away with this. It would take a Goddamn miracle.

Louis and Harry both dropped their bikes next to the fence that divided their houses and made a beeline for the basement window, which they had conveniently left open for themselves. Louis ducked his head through as he hopped down, but was surprised to see Harry follow him. “Wait, what are you doing? If you go home then you won’t get caught.”

“I’m your alibi. I can tell the Warden that I was with you here all day,” Harry insisted.

“Oh, she knows you were with me all day. She won’t believe for a second that we were down here cleaning. It’s not even any cleaner.”

“Then I’ll get in trouble too,” he shrugged. “You got all the heat for the senior prank. I’m not letting you be the only one to take the heat again.”

“Are you sure?”

“I may have one other ulterior motive,” Harry said, then he took a step closer. This was a familiar feeling. The butterflies in Louis’ stomach were making a swift return. “Remember when we were all admitting secrets in the tunnels and I said I didn’t have anything?”

Louis nodded. “I do, yeah.” His stomach was now in his throat. Harry was so close the only options for Louis to look at were his eyes or his mouth.

“I think I actually do have a confession. I might have a bit of a crush on this guy that lives next door.”

“My father is married, you know.”

Harry snorted when he laughed, then quickly covered his mouth. That only made Louis laugh harder. Once Harry composed himself, he clarified, “I was thinking the one that was a little closer to my age.”

And then he began to lean in, but Louis didn’t.

“Wait.”

Harry stopped. “What’s wrong?”

“Is this a test or is this real?”

Harry blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Do you want to kiss me because you want to know what it’s like to kiss a guy, or do you want to kiss me because you want to kiss me?” Louis wasn’t here to be anyone’s experiment. What he was feeling was real, and he needed to know Harry’s intentions were pure. If they weren’t, it might just shatter him.

“I don’t need a test. I already know that I like you. I want to kiss you. Only you.”

Louis smiled, and then he grabbed Harry’s face in his hands and he kissed him.

In his mind, Louis built up this moment like it would be worthy of blockbuster movie. An orchestra would crescendo on the soundtrack. The camera would pan out as fireworks blasted off in the background. Then the screen would fade to black as the credits rolled over a one-hit wonder song from the 70s. And that would be the end. We’d never know what was to become of our heroes. The big kiss happened, but did it last? Did they make it to marriage and live long and happy lives with children in the suburbs, or did they date for a couple months and then break up because they realized the only thing that connected them was teenage hormones or the same love of some band or some weird hobby? Characters only exist between the first and last lines. Everything else is imagination.

But this was Harry.

Harry, who he’d known since he hadn’t even hit double digits yet. Harry, who was always the loud and obnoxious kid, but it was okay because Louis was also loud and obnoxious. The guy who had gotten Louis into trouble just as often as he bailed him out. Harry was the kid who once broke his ankle after falling out of a tree, but made Louis take him to the hospital in a wagon so his mom wouldn’t yell at him. She still did, of course. An eleven-year-old doesn’t get treated at a hospital with no questions asked. This was this kid who he would stay up all night with to read comics or watch Star Wars for the hundredth time. He introduced Louis to rock ‘n’ roll with a stack of his dad’s old records, and he took him on some of the best adventures he’d ever have.

And now Louis’ hand was cradling Harry’s cheek, and his eyes had fallen closed, and he was kissing him. His lips were so soft and his arms were holding him close. It wasn’t at all like he’d imagined it. It wasn’t like a movie; no orchestra or fireworks. But all those fantasies couldn’t even compare to this because this was real. It was happening. And Louis didn’t really want it to stop happening.

But it had to, because the basement door opened and the sound of footsteps walking down the stairs forced them apart. Harry took a step back and coughed, and Louis grabbed that broom from this morning. Sweeping meant work was being done. Harry turned to the box that was behind him and picked up the old picture frame that was sitting on top to look like he was organizing it. The photo was a picture of baby Louis posing in a diaper. He smiled at it, then looked up at Louis who was playfully rolling his eyes.

The footsteps were paced slowly, a clicking sound as each beat passed. Neither of them were surprised to see the Warden standing on the bottom step, arms folded with one eyebrow raised. Her mouth was flattened to a straight line.

“Hey mom,” Louis grinned, putting his best acting skills to use. “How was work?”

“Oh, just the usual. Spending the day chasing my son and his friends around town – or under town, I should say – as they try to accomplish one of their crazy schemes just to make my job harder. At least now we can prioritize shutting those tunnels down once and for all.”

Harry and Louis looked at each other, a mutual gaze that agreed it was time to admit defeat. They had a good run. Maybe Louis would still get to see his friends one more time before he was headed off to college, if his mother didn’t lock him in his room for the entirety of the summer. There was no excuse of getting away with it by being eighteen in this house. “You live under my roof, you follow my rules” and all that.

The boys didn’t say anything, just stared at their feet.

“You guys crawl in through the window?” she asked, pointing to where it was still hanging open. “What happened to your keys?”

“Key _s_?” Louis said, emphasizing the plural.

“Don’t think I don’t know Harry has a key. I’m a mom, I know everything,” she smiled proudly. It was probably the first time she smiled all day.

“We’re really sorry Mrs. Tomlinson,” Harry said quickly, arching his eyebrows sincerely. “We didn’t mean to worry you. We just thought we could figure out how those two prisoners escaped. You’ve heard of Walter H. Johnson and George Hall, right?”

“Oh, I’ve heard of them. Look, boys, I know you’re curious and rebellious teenagers, but some rules are the way they are for a reason. Those tunnels are dangerous. Some things need to be left for the professionals. Trained investigators worked on that incident and couldn’t solve it, so the case was closed. End of story.”

“Then why couldn’t they find this?” Louis held up the black journal in his hand. The pages had gotten wet from the fall, but he dried them with a blow dryer while Harry was in the shower at Liam’s. They were a little wrinkled, but still legible.

“What is that?” Eliza raised her eyebrows.

“Walter H. Johnson’s journal. He wrote in it during his entire sentence. He’s innocent,” Louis stressed, flipping to the pages where he talked about Betty. “He just wanted to see his daughter.”

The expression on Eliza’s face turned pale. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, then looked away. “Harry, sweetie, why don’t you go upstairs and help Mr. Tomlinson in the kitchen?” she said quietly. “You can stay for dinner if you’d like.”

“Sure,” Harry nodded. He looked at Louis who returned a glance of reassurance, then jogged up the stairs behind Eliza.

“Louis, come sit down with me.” Eliza lowered herself onto the bottom step and then patted the spot on it next to her. Louis walked over slowly. When he was sitting, Eliza took his hands in hers.

“When I was a little girl, my father nicknamed me Betty, short for Elizabeth rather than Eliza,” she began. Louis’ eyes widened and he almost choked on his own saliva, but he didn’t interrupt. “I always told you your grandfather died in the war before I was born and that’s why I never knew him. That wasn’t true. My father went to prison when I was five years old for burning down our family house. My mother and I weren’t at home at the time, thankfully. As soon as he was sentenced, my mother filed for divorce. She moved us to Brightrock and met a new man, quickly married him, and then changed both of our names. She wanted nothing to do with my father because he was a filthy jailbird. Her words, not mine. But I didn’t forget him.”

His mother sighed and squeezed Louis’ hand a bit harder. He squeezed back.

“He built this swing for me between two trees in the backyard. It was just a plank tied with two ropes, but I loved that swing. When he came home from work he would push me on it until my mother called us in for dinner. Walter was a good father. At least from what my five year old brain could remember. I know he loved me. Or loves, I should say.”

“Loves? Mom, do you know where Walter is?” Louis said urgently.

She nodded slowly, then gulped. “Yes. About fifteen years ago, he finally found me. He and George are living in Mexico. I always wondered why they didn’t just go to Canada since that’s much closer,” Eliza laughed, which made Louis smile. “He writes me a letter a couple of times a year. Sometimes I reply, but it’s difficult. He was really only my father for about five years, and then he was a stranger. I kept all of the letters though. He still calls me Betty.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Louis wondered incredulously.

“I didn’t tell anyone. Not even your father. And especially not your grandmother because she’d have my head if she knew. But he was innocent. That night of the fire, he was drinking and left the stove on. But because he was drunk and my mother had taken me to my grandmother’s house after they had a fight, they claimed it was on purpose. My father wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t deserve to be in prison. He didn’t kill that guard, either. He had a stroke the night the escape happened. The police were too quick to assume before looking closely at everything.”

Louis was close with his guess. He thought it was a heart attack.

“Are you happy he escaped?” he asked.

“I’m happy he’s alive. And I’m happy he was able to find happiness after all those horrible things that happened.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you, mom,” Louis told her, reaching a hand behind her to rub her back. “But thanks for telling me. And I’m sorry this is the way you had to do it. We just thought it would be fun. I didn’t mean to make you worry so much.”

“I was very worried, but it’s okay, kiddo,” Eliza smiled. She brushed her fingers through her son’s hair, and then kissed his forehead. “You’re still grounded though. Until graduation, and then you get a full time job for the summer. That understood?”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Louis said, and then his mom pulled him into a hug.

Louis was still shocked about the revelation. Walter H. Johnson, the infamous escaped prisoner of Luna Hills, was actually his grandfather. And he was alive. He wondered if anyone else around town knew of this. The librarian, Mrs. McLaughlin, must have had some information. Few people in this town had lived here as long as her. Knowing his mother, she probably swore them all to secrecy. But Louis had so many more questions. So much more he wanted to know about this man with whom he shared his blood.

“Oh, I think you should have this.” Louis picked up the journal that was resting on the step next to her. “There are more letters for you in there. Read them when you have some time.”

Eliza smiled, rubbing Louis’ back. “Thank you. I will.”

“Hey mom?” Louis asked while she examined the cover. “Do you think I could send Walter a letter? Since you have his address, I mean. I don’t even know if he’d reply, but-”

“Sure, kiddo,” Eliza nodded, then smiled. “I’ll get it for you after dinner. For now, let’s go eat, okay? I believe your father made a roast.”

“Sounds good,” Louis said, and then they both stood up to join the family upstairs.

Throughout the entirety of dinner, Louis was itching to run upstairs to his desk. He barely said a word only because he was penning the letter to his grandfather in his mind. All the questions he had, all the things he wanted to tell him. But Harry was a mild distraction. As his parents discussed their days and fed Clair in her booster seat, Louis and Harry participated in a minor game of footsies under the table, as well as the occasional flirtatious exchange of smirks.

Ah, teen romance.

Once dinner was finished and the table was cleared, Harry and Louis were assigned dishes duty. As usual, Louis washed while Harry dried. They had never washed dishes faster than they had that evening. In five minutes flat, all of the dishes were dried and returned to their rightful cupboards. The two boys then raced upstairs, forgetting that Harry technically should’ve went home since Louis was still grounded, but if Eliza didn’t say anything, then they wouldn’t either.

Louis closed his bedroom door behind them and the two sat themselves across from each other on Louis’ bed.

“So what did she have to talk to you about?” Harry asked eagerly. “What’s the big secret?”

Louis told him everything. About his mother and how Walter was his grandfather, the letters and where he lived now, and why he really was innocent. That was what peaked Harry’s interest the most.

“Wow. So Walter and George really did make it out alive?” Harry said with amazement. “You think George was innocent too?”

Louis shook his head. “No. But he got Walter out, didn’t he? And now he has the chance to talk to his daughter again.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “That’s gotta be worth something.”

They talked about Walter and George and Eliza (or Betty) for a little while longer. Until their voices got sore and Harry began to yawn. Before he could suggest heading home, Louis offered for him to stay the night. Just to sleep, though. That wasn’t new.

But Louis was still anxious to pen that letter, so Harry sat on the ground and looked through the milk crate of records that Louis had collected over the years, even though he had looked through them about a thousand times. Louis sat at his desk, turned on his lamp, pulled a piece of paper and a pencil from his drawer, and then began writing.

It took Louis nearly an hour to finish the whole thing. Long enough for Harry to crawl into bed for the night, leaving a record still spinning until it was finished. Louis didn’t even notice when the music stopped.

After scribbling the final words, he read it over once, then folded it up and tucked it into an envelope that was just waiting on that address from his mother. And then he crawled in bed next to Harry. He was still awake enough to cuddle next to him. Even after the sewer, his hair smelled quite nice. Louis could get used to this, he thought.

Just before dozing off, Louis wondered if his mother might let him take a break from his grounding tomorrow for a quick trip to the post office.

_Dear Walter,_

_You don’t know who I am, but you know who my mother is. Or maybe you do know, if my mother told you anything about me. My name is Louis Tomlinson and I’m your grandson. You have a granddaughter too. She’s three and her name is Claire. Maybe we’ll meet you one day._

_I’m writing to you because I spent the entirety of today trying to solve a mystery with my friends. We graduate high school next week and wanted to have one last adventure before we had to retire our adolescence. My friend and I found a box in our basement with a bunch of case files. Perks of having a mayor for a mother. We found your case in it. You’re kind of infamous in Luna Hills, you know. You got a whole prison shut down after successfully escaping. That’s almost impressive._

_For hours we climbed through those tunnels, surrounded by dust and dirt. I’m still coughing it up. I sure you know what that’s like. But it was still fun. Well, maybe not so much for you. I got to know my friends a lot better than I thought I would, and I can’t wait to tell them about you. Nothing forces bonding quite like being enclosed in a tunnel with no obvious escape. But we made it out alive. We had to swim through ~~shit~~ sewage to get there, but we did. And I think we solved that mystery, too. _

_I found your journal in your cell. I hope you don’t mind that I read it, but I don’t think I’d be writing this to you if I didn’t. I’m glad you found Betty, and I hope you and George are happy with your new lives. For what it’s worth, I believe that you’re innocent. You love your daughter too much not to be._

_My mother never told me about you for the eighteen years I’ve been alive. I understand why, and I assume you do as well. But I would just like to thank you for this little adventure. I’m sure it doesn’t mean much to you, but it meant a lot to my friends and me. More than I can even tell you. My father always told me that we should never have any regrets because we can always find the good in every decision we make. It’s the only way we can be grateful for what we have._

_I hope your life has been good since you escaped prison. Mine sure has been, but I’m sure your escape was much more difficult. (Bad joke? Sorry.)_

_At least it was worth it._

_Your grandson,_

_Louis_


End file.
